Slide 1
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What “kind” of course is Physics 2020?
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Slide 2
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Calendar Description:
A course designed to foster an
understanding of the way in which
science and society interact. By using
examples drawn from historical
antecedents of modern physics and
modern physics, various aspects (cultural,
technological, social, and disciplinary) of
the science-society interaction will be
critically examined and discussed.
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Slide 3
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Physics 2020 sounds like____________?
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Slide 4
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Physics 2020 sounds like____________?
History
Economics
Sociology
Philosophy
Mathematics
Psychology
Anthropology
Religious Studies
and sometimes even Physics
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Slide 5
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A UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
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Slide 6
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A UNIVERSITY EDUCATION
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Vocational Training
Educate
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Slide 7
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"Heavier than air flying machines are impossible.”
(Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895)
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Slide 8
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"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
(Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943)
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Slide 9
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"There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home."
(Ken Olsen, president, chairman and founder of Digital
Equipment Corp., 1977)
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Slide 10
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"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value."
(Marshal Ferdinand Foch, French commander of Allied forces
during the closing months of World War I, 1918)
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Slide 11
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"The telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously
considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently
of no value to us.”
(Western Union internal memo, 1876)
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Slide 12
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"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value.
Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?"
(David Sarnoff's associates, in response to his urging for
investment in radio in the 1920's)
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Slide 13
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"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"
(Harry M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927)
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Slide 14
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"Everything that can be invented has been invented."
(Charles H. Duell, commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899)
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Slide 17
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The Nature of Physics
The study of physics is a tribute to the human intellect and its use of
knowledge and reason to invent mathematical models of reality.
Physics is one of the liberal arts, combining elements of reason,
philosophy, mathematics, language, and rhetoric. Historically, physics
was called natural philosophy; we gave up much nuance when this
phrase was abandoned during the 19th century.
The term natural philosophy reflects the creative and dynamic interplay
that exists in physics among experiment, theory, logic, insight,
inspiration, symmetry, beauty, and language.
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Slide 18
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The Nature of Physics
It is in this spirit that we, as students and professors alike, study nature,
constantly observing, changing, and modeling the world around us with
all the real and theoretical tools that we, as an intelligent species, can
invent. All of us are natural philosophers; we all are physicists.
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Slide 19
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Descriptions of Nature, But Not Nature
Kinematics, a quantitative description of motion, was invented by
Galileo Galilei in the early 1600s after much observation and
experimentation. We say invented rather than discovered, since
physical theories do not lie lurking in nature, waiting to be discovered
like an unknown planet or plant. Rather physical theories are
inventions of the human intellect that describe and account for
observations of nature.
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Slide 20
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One of the “meanings” of the equals sign
Forcetotal = (mass) x (acceleration)
The expression ma is not a force, although it has the same dimensions
as a force (because both sides of an equation in physics must have the
same dimensions). The quantity ma is equal to the magnitude of the
total force, but is not itself a force.
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Slide 21
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Dimensions
Length
Time
Mass
Charge
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Dimensions are the fundamental quantities needed to
converse quantitatively ( and for that matter qualitatively)
about the physical universe.
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Dimensions have units; they are not units.
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Slide 22
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Dimensions
The word dimension has two different meanings in physics. One
meaning is geometrical: a dimension is any of the least number of
coordinates needed to specify the location of a point in space.
The second meaning of the word dimension is quite different. We say
the dimensions of the density of a material are mass per unit volume.
Likewise, the dimensions of speed are those of distance divided by a
time interval. The measure of density and speed depend on the unit
system used.
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Slide 23
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Dimensional Analysis
For physical equations to be correct they must be dimensionally correct.
Example:
E=
mc2
Could it be E =
mc3
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E = energy therefore has MKS units of Joules = N m = kg m2 /s2
Dimensionally this is mass length2 / seconds2
The right hand side of the expression must have the same dimensions
therefore it must be mc2 and not mc3.
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Slide 24
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If a tree falls in the forest and no one is
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there to listen; it doesn’t make a sound?
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Slide 25
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If you want to know the truth, follow the money.
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Slide 26
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Science has no morals and no truths.
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Slide 27
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The physical world can be entirely and
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accurately described by mathematics.
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Slide 28
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People in the 21st century are more
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intelligent than people in previous centuries
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Slide 29
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All science is either physics
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or stamp collecting.
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Slide 30
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When you understand human behavior,
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you understand everything.
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Slide 31
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Education is the only human endeavor in
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which people do not demand
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their money’s worth.
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Slide 32
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We need an operational definition for the
term “World View”
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Slide 33
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We need an operational definition for the
term “World View”
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World View –
How an individual makes sense
of their world.
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