The Lecture Hall - Physics - Beginner - Introduction

When I decided to start writing this blog, one of the goals I set was to try and communicate my understanding of various topics ranging from games and music to science and technology in a manner that anyone could understand.  In my previous career working in Information Technology, I frequently had to explain technical issues to people who lacked a technical background.  When I returned to college a few years ago to study Physics, I again found myself trying to explain various mathematics-intensive scientific topics to individuals who did not have much of a background in mathematics.  While explaining a select bit of particle physics to my wife, I decided that it would be worthwhile to try and create written explanations of scientific topics that did not rely on mathematics to define the processes.  After all, in vocabulary and grammar classes as children, we’re taught that you shouldn’t use a word to define itself.  And since mathematical explanations of a physical system are a form of defining the system using a circular definition, a solely mathematical explanation is against the rules.  -5, recursive definition.

Thus the idea for The Lecture Hall was born.  Originally I wanted to attempt to describe all aspects of Physics without using any mathematics or – at worst – minimal mathematical concepts only where it was necessary.  After thinking for some time on exactly how I might go about achieving this goal, I decided that it might be beyond my skills, so I revised my plans a bit.  The new plan calls for a series of discussions on various topics within the realm of Physics with a bare minimum of mathematical explanations that will serve to inform people on what the topics of discussion are, show how the topics relate to other topics, give some understandable and observable examples of the topics, and set the framework for a more advanced understanding of these and related topics to be discussed at a later point in time.

Welcome to the Lecture Hall

These initial discussions will be labeled as Beginner, although the actual concepts discussed will not necessarily be simplistic in nature.  Later, after hopefully having a bit of a discussion of some of the basic mathematical methods used in understanding the world around us, I hope to present a further series of slightly more advanced discussions that will be labeled as Intermediate.  Ultimately, after another series of discussions on more advanced mathematical methods used to understand our universe, I would like to present a series of Advanced discussions that truly explore the nuances of our surroundings.  Note that all conclusions are subject to change, since the “rules” defining the world around us may change as new discoveries are made.  (How many planets are there in the solar system, again?)

Before we can begin exploring the world of physics, we must ask the basic question: “What is Physics?”  And to this we can give a basic answer: “Physics is the study of energy and matter, their motion through space and time, and their interactions with other energy and matter through various forces.”  What is energy?  What is matter?  What is motion?  What are forces?  What is space?  What is time?  These are all questions that we will seek to answer in detail in future discussions.  Having given such a non-committal explanation of where we are going, we can now set out a preliminary road-map for the discussions that will follow in a similar fashion.

Proceed down the rabbit hole...

Motion – What is motion?  What are the laws that govern motion?  What is relativity?  How does relativity affect the laws of motion?  What is linear motion, what is angular motion, and how do the two differ?

In our discussion of motion, we will be looking at the motion of macroscopic objects through Classical Mechanics as well as the motion of atomic and subatomic particles through Quantum Mechanics.  Our discussion of Classical Mechanics will encompass Kinematics, Dynamics, and Statistics, and our discussion of Quantum Mechanics will explore themes such as the wave – particle duality and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle.

Energy – What is energy?  What is the relationship between energy and mass?  What is mass?  What are the types of energy?  What is work?  What is energy transformation? How is energy transferred?  How does relativity affect energy?  How does energy relate to motion?

In our discussion of energy, we will be looking at a range of topics including conservation of energy, reversible and nonreversible energy transformations, contextual understanding of energy in Classical Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics, and Thermodynamics, and contextual understanding of energy in various other specialized scientific fields such as Biology and Chemistry.

Forces – What are forces?  What is a fundamental force?  What is a non-fundamental force?  What is a conservative force?  What is a non-conservative force?  What is a pseudo-force?  What is a vector?  What is equilibrium?  How does relativity relate to forces?  How do forces relate to motion, and how do forces relate to energy?

In our discussion of forces, we will once again look at both the macroscopic and the microscopic in Classical Mechanics and Quantum Mechanics.  We will explore themes such as Newton’s laws of motion, static and dynamic equilibrium, electromagnetism and other fundamental and non-fundamental forces.

This is a very basic – and very incomplete – selection of topics that are available to us to explore and discuss, but we are starting with the goal of obtaining a basic understanding of a multitude of topics.  We certainly will not be able to explore every topic to equal depths without the use of mathematical techniques, and there are topics that may elude the range of this forum even after advanced mathematical techniques are brought to bear.  We also may not cover each topic fully before moving on to another topic, and discussion may move back and forth between major areas of discussion since many of the topics are inter-related. 

Also, as a closing aside, this particular corner of the blog may not see updates as frequently as other areas due to the complex nature of the discussion and real-time obligations of work and study… it took me two months to formulate this simple introductory placeholder article because I was trying to determine what direction I wanted to take the discussion and to what degree.  So why even write on these topics when there are already many sources where this information can be found, compiled neatly into one location?  Why not?  The search for understanding and knowledge begins and ends when we decide it does.  So let’s begin.