Physics (from Ancient Greek: φύσις physis "nature") is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through space and time, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.
Physics is one of the oldest academic disciplines, perhaps the oldest through its inclusion of astronomy. Over the last two millennia, physics was a part of natural philosophy along with chemistry, certain branches of mathematics, and biology, but during the Scientific Revolution in the 17th century, the natural sciences emerged as unique research programs in their own right. Physics intersects with many interdisciplinary areas of research, such as biophysics and quantum chemistry, and the boundaries of physics are not rigidly defined. New ideas in physics often explain the fundamental mechanisms of other sciences, while opening new avenues of research in areas such as mathematics and philosophy.
Physics also makes significant contributions through advances in new technologies that arise from theoretical breakthroughs. For example, advances in the understanding of electromagnetism or nuclear physics led directly to the development of new products which have dramatically transformed modern-day society, such as television, computers, domestic appliances, and nuclear weapons; advances in thermodynamics led to the development of industrialization; and advances in mechanics inspired the development of calculus.
Read more about Physics: History, Philosophy, Core Theories, Current Research
Other articles related to "physics":
... Information has a well-defined meaning in physics ... Bekenstein claimed that a growing trend in physics was to define the physical world as being made of information itself (and thus information is defined in this way) (see Digital physics) ...
... In a non-tonal language, segments may be differentiated as follows Vowels are replaced by a set of relative pitch ranges generally tracking the f2 formant of spoken language ... Stress is expressed by higher pitch or increased length Consonants are produced by pitch transitions of different lengths and height, plus the presence or absence of occlusion ...
... The Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics (ITEP Russian Институт теоретической и экспериментальной физики) is located in Moscow ... of people studying topics ranging from theoretical physics and mathematics to biology and chemistry ... Research areas in theoretical physics concentrate around quantum field theory including the string theory ...
... Further information List of unsolved problems in physics Research in physics is continually progressing on a large number of fronts ... In condensed matter physics, an important unsolved theoretical problem is that of high-temperature superconductivity ... In particle physics, the first pieces of experimental evidence for physics beyond the Standard Model have begun to appear ...
... The idea that Newtonian physics proved causal determinism was highly influential in the early modern period ... For instance, Newtonian physics admits solutions where particles accelerate continuously, heading out towards infinity ...
Famous quotes containing the word physics:
“The labor we delight in physics pain.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“He who is conversant with the supernal powers will not worship these inferior deities of the wind, waves, tide, and sunshine. But we would not disparage the importance of such calculations as we have described. They are truths in physics because they are true in ethics.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The fundamental laws of physics do not describe true facts about reality. Rendered as descriptions of facts, they are false; amended to be true, they lose their explanatory force.”
—Nancy Cartwright (b. 1945)