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Author Topic:   Reaching the practical end of physics?
Percy
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Posts: 22389
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.2


Message 6 of 68 (437192)
11-29-2007 8:14 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by Silent H
11-27-2007 9:33 PM


Somewhere around the turn of the 20th century a famous scientist of the period gave a lecture in which he announced the end of physics. Perhaps someone here recalls who this was, I couldn't seem to provide the right keywords to Google to track him down, but he said that physics had already discovered the important principles, and that scientists in the future would just be adding decimal places or precision to that that was already known. Sure, there were still a couple minor problems out there, like the spectrum of black body radiation and the inability to detect the ether, but those would no doubt be wrapped up soon.
It wasn't suspected at the time that the world of physics was on the brink of a revolution that would introduce quantum theory (explained black body radiation) and relativity (explained the absence of the ether). This tells us that we can't know where the future of physics will take us until we get there.
There is one way in which we could be realistically said to be approaching the end of physics. The low hanging fruit of physics, the simpler and more obvious principles like mechanics and optics, were discovered long ago, and the 20th century showed that further progress in physics required increasingly greater collaboration and time and money, often on massive scales, and this trend continues. So while past experience tells us that there is still far more to learn, practical constraints might make further significant progress too difficult for mere humans. In other words, if we are actually encountering any limits, they're not limits of knowledge but of human capability.
--Percy

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by Silent H, posted 11-27-2007 9:33 PM Silent H has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 7 by Wounded King, posted 11-29-2007 8:35 AM Percy has seen this message but not replied
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Percy
Member
Posts: 22389
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.2


Message 24 of 68 (437459)
11-30-2007 7:51 AM
Reply to: Message 18 by Hyroglyphx
11-29-2007 8:03 PM


Re: On the cusp of knowing nothing at all
NJ writes:
Why not though? If E=mc2 and c being a constant of light traveling in a vacuum, and either of these studies defy that principle, then isn't Einstein's calculations incorrect?
A couple people have already pointed out that c is the speed of light in a vacuum, not the speed of light in the medium in which your experiment takes place. It's an inherent property of our universe. For example, it doesn't vary if you're working with prisms where light travels more slowly.
Another way to think about c is that it is the maximum speed of influence, i.e., the maximum speed at which one part of the universe can affect another. For example, the influence of gravity travels at c. Light traveling unimpeded in a vacuum is just a convenient way of measuring c.
--Percy

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 Message 18 by Hyroglyphx, posted 11-29-2007 8:03 PM Hyroglyphx has not replied

  
Percy
Member
Posts: 22389
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.2


Message 68 of 68 (545211)
02-02-2010 8:49 AM
Reply to: Message 67 by Modulous
12-27-2007 5:20 AM


Galaxy Zoo
I'd like to give a bump to this thread where Modulous mentioned Galaxy Zoo a couple years ago. At this site laypeople can make meaningful contributions to cosmological research. Nothing beats a human being for rapid and accurate pattern recognition, and by bringing your eyes and your brain to their website you can help scientists develop a better understanding of why the universe is the way it is.
The link again: Galaxy Zoo
--Percy

This message is a reply to:
 Message 67 by Modulous, posted 12-27-2007 5:20 AM Modulous has not replied

  
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