Gear Model in Modern Physics
Modern physics adopted the gear model in different ways. In the nineteenth century, James Clerk Maxwell developed a model of electromagnetism in which magnetic field lines were rotating tubes of incompressible fluid. Maxwell used a gear wheel and called it an "idle wheel" to explain the electrical current as a rotation of particles in opposite directions to that of the rotating field lines.
More recently, quantum physics uses "quantum gears" in their model. A group of gears can serve as a model for several different systems, such as an artificially constructed nanomechanical device or a group of ring molecules.
The Three Wave Hypothesis compares the wave–particle duality to a bevel gear.
Read more about this topic: Gears
Famous quotes containing the words gear, model, modern and/or physics:
“For women ... bras, panties, bathing suits, and other stereotypical gear are visual reminders of a commercial, idealized feminine image that our real and diverse female bodies can’t possibly fit. Without these visual references, each individual woman’s body demands to be accepted on its own terms. We stop being comparatives. We begin to be unique.”
—Gloria Steinem (b. 1934)
“The best way to teach a child restraint and generosity is to be a model of those qualities yourself. If your child sees that you want a particular item but refrain from buying it, either because it isn’t practical or because you can’t afford it, he will begin to understand restraint. Likewise, if you donate books or clothing to charity, take him with you to distribute the items to teach him about generosity.”
—Lawrence Balter (20th century)
“No idea is so antiquated that it was not once modern. No idea is so modern that it will not someday be antiquated.”
—Ellen Glasgow (1874–1945)
“Although philosophers generally believe in laws and deny causes, explanatory practice in physics is just the reverse.”
—Nancy Cartwright (b. 1945)