A physical paradox is an apparent contradiction in physical descriptions of the universe. While many physical paradoxes have accepted resolutions, others defy resolution and may indicate flaws in theory. In physics as in all of science, contradictions and paradoxes are generally assumed to be artifacts of error and incompleteness because reality is assumed to be completely consistent, although this is itself a philosophical assumption. When, as in fields such as quantum physics and relativity theory, existing assumptions about reality have been shown to break down, this has usually been dealt with by changing our understanding of reality to a new one which remains self-consistent in the presence of the new evidence.
Read more about Physical Paradox: Paradoxes Relating To False Assumptions, Paradoxes Relating To Unphysical Mathematical Idealizations, Quantum Mechanical Paradoxes, Causality Paradoxes, Observational Paradoxes
Famous quotes containing the words physical and/or paradox:
“With every physical pain, my moral fiber unravels a little.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“A good aphorism is too hard for the teeth of time and is not eaten up by all the centuries, even though it serves as food for every age: hence it is the greatest paradox in literature, the imperishable in the midst of change, the nourishment which—like salt—is always prized, but which never loses its savor as salt does.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)