What is it about Physics...

No, water for gas isn't too smart. Neither is hydrogen, when you think about it, but maybe its proponents never had the thermodynamics box explained to them as part of their education. Not everyone is enthused by teeny tiny particles that may or not be real, or understand the implications. Even the idea that we're looking back in time when we look at starlight tends to pop brain fuses among some people. Physics really should be part of the mandatory school curriculum.

 

I never studied physics in school, which I regret. I'm a medical writer by trade, and I have learned about some basic principles of physics through my writing. I love it. Physical principles make so much sense and explain so much about the world around us, and inside us, for that matter.

I wish physics wasn't perceived as some totally abstract, impossible to understand discipline--it scares people off. Although my own knowledge of physics is still pretty limited, I try not to miss a chance to demonstrate laws of physics at work to my kids.

 

I'm only an uneducated bird-brain Aussie and I get it so it isn't so tough is it?

 

I think a key to any abstract concept is the ability or desire to VISUALIZE.

Seeing a picture in your mind (albeit imperfect) goes a long way towards understanding physics or any subject, really.

Some people seem to be hardwired for ease of understanding abstract concepts, like myself, or hardwired for more softer expressions as drawing and painting, like my wife.

Example:
My wife can speak and understand 5 languages (English, Italian, Spanish, French, and Latin), and with no schooling she is a human copy machine when painting and drawing,
But....
the other day, after tens of years of religiously using rechargable batteries in everything, watching them be put into a recharger and plugged into the wall outlet, she still didn't know that electricity enters the batteries to recharge them.
I was puzzled she didn't understand so I asked "Just what did you think was going on when I put the dead batteries (which you gave me) into the recharger, plugged it into the wall and one day later, gave you the newly recharged batteries back?"
Her classic response "Uh...I don't know".
I was flabbergasted to say the least.

Most people don't have the foundational picture upon which these concepts are based, so whatever enters their mind at the moment seems to be credible.

Although, in threaded arguments, I think some people are spuriously speculating, just for it's own enjoyment.

Which is why alot of explanations instead are left out and the term "Black Box" is inserted.

ZC1

 

... but then, throw the concept of entropy into the mix -- the loss of energy with each energy transformation -- and this throws a monkey wrench into the box. Next, that entropy needs to be quantified, if possible.

This is not a part of the 'water = gas' baloney, but is another factor to be included in the box.

no hyperventilating - not worth it!

 

I remember in about my 3rd year as a physics major, I was in a Quantum Physics class. On the first day of class my professor looked at us and said. "OK remember all the physics you learned up until now. You know the Newtonian physics.... well you can forget it now it was all wrong. You were taught that because it was easier for non physics people to understand. Starting from now we will teach you real physics." We all were like wow really?

 

Hmmmmm... Being a physicist myself, I don't like it when things are put that way. Every theory (classical Newtonian mechanics, special / general relativity, quantum mechanics, ...) has it scope of validity and applications. Saying that Newtonian physics is "wrong" really is a bold oversimplification. In 99.9% of the cases, it is the only theory that will give you the answers you need.

Of course, saying such things always helps to impress college students...

 

I'm sure anyone reading this understands, that no energy is ever "lost" (as in "disappears forever from existance") but the so-called "lost" energy is actually converted into a less usable form (for our purposes).

Energy cannot be created or destroyed, merely converted.
Pure harmonic energy is the substance of mass.
Einstein had it right when he postulated E=MCsquared

Circuit energy is lost in conversions and if we had the devices to trap such conversions, we would start with a full tank and end with a full tank.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this... heh

ZC1

 

Why use Newtonian equations when you can just use non-Newtonian equations instead? Then you don't have to worry about the effects of gravity, size, etc... Messing up your calculations. Especially now with all the work we do on satellites and sub atomic particles. I don't know.... I say just use what is correct. I think the same think should happen in Chemistry classes. Why not teach them correct physics? All over the world today professor's in chemistry classes are telling their students "mass can neither be created nor destroyed", or they show incorrect charts of the atomic structure, etc.... Why teach them that? All those people will go through life thinking about the world incorrectly. I don't know this is just something I find really annoying about our schools.

 

Huh? That is just plain wrong.

 

I'd agree that alot of the energy conversions we undertake, as humans, is converted to heat (since we are looking for work energy), although energy conversions in the universe (as you implied) are also represented in the changes of emitted frequencies (Xrays, Gamma Rays), rarely seen particles, gravitational pulls and other such exotic stuff.

(Please don't misrepresent what I'm saying, a nearby source of energy transformations into heat is our very own sun. Even though it converts it's raw material into transmissions of energy that are not heat, it also provides necessary heat. Which of course, I believe was infactically(sp?) designed.)

ZC1

 

A slip of the tongue, it's "energy can neither be created nor destroyed"

ZC1

 

I know it is "energy" (thats my point) but in chemistry classes they say "mass".

 

Guess I was asleep in chemistry class... as usual.

ZC1