Conceptual Properties
The concept of particles is particularly useful when modelling nature, as the full treatment of many phenomena is complex. It can be used to make simplifying assumptions concerning the processes involved. Francis Sears and Mark Zemansky, in University Physics, give the example of calculating the landing location and velocity of a baseball thrown in the air. They gradually strip the baseball of most of its properties, by first idealizing it as a rigid smooth sphere, then by neglecting rotation, buoyancy and friction, ultimately reducing the problem to the ballistics of a classical point particle.
Treatment of large numbers of particles is the realm of statistical physics. When studied in the context of an extremely small scale, quantum mechanics starts to kick in, and give rise to several phenomena such as the particle in a box problem and wave–particle duality, or theoretical considerations, such a whether particles can be considered distinct or identical.
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Famous quotes containing the words conceptual and/or properties:
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