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Examining Physics in Everyday Life and Why You Should Care

Examining Physics in Everyday Life

And Why You Should Care

Solvay Conference 1927

Introduction: Over the past century, physicists from around the world have started coming together to figure out and make sense of the laws that govern the universe and how they apply to everyday life. The above image is a very famous picture showing the first example of this. (Note: Marie Curie, bottom row and third from the left, was the only woman at this conference.)


  • What were they thinking at this conference?
    • "Nature of determinism and what it means only to have a probability that a particle might be somewhere and whether any of it was real." --> first beginning to think about physics

Examining Cultural Perception of Physics: There is a big gap between quantum mechanics and cosmology. 

First...
  • What is cosmology? Check out this 1 minute video below. 
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSt9tm3RoU
    • "Cosmology is a branch of astronomy that involves the origin and evolution of the universe, from the Big Bang to today and on into the future. 
    • According to NASA, cosmology is the, "Scientific study of the large scale properties of the universe as a whole."
Now...
  • Now, understand that in today's world of physics people disregard the middle between the very small and rapidness of quantum mechanics and large scale cosmology. 
What is this middle ground?
  • Anything and everything that governs everyday life. Includes: planets, toast, volcanoes, clouds, clarinets, bubbles, dolphins, etc. 

Basic Laws of Physics

Real Life Example: If two eggs are spun, one raw and one boiled, when one stops them, the boiled egg stops immediately and the raw egg keeps spinning for an additional few seconds. 
  • Why? Well, this relates to the law of conservation of angular momentum. The law states that if an object is set spinning about a fixed axis it will keep spinning until something makes it stop. Thus, the boiled egg is a solid and stops when one makes it. But, the raw egg is not a solid and the liquid inside has not been stopped when one lays a hand on the egg. The egg keeps spinning from the inside. 
  • Watch video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avj7Z0CXIFE

See the Same Principal in Advanced Modern Technology: 

  • The Hubble Space Telescope has been rotating in space (not touching anything) for 25 years. It took the extremely precise image above, over the course of 11 days, of a very small piece of the solar system. 
    • How does something that's not touching anything know where it is?
      • Machine contains gyroscopes in the middle that keep spinning and thus the machine rotates about them in space. --> Orientation of machine

What Can You Do To See Physics In Your Everyday Life?

First...
  • What are the steps of physics? Know the laws, experimentation, and critical thinking --> "How can we move science forward?"
Then...

Try Some of These Fun Experiments At Home



Sources: 
1. https://www.ted.com/talks/helen_czerski_fun_home_experiments_that_teach_you_physics#t-924836
2. https://www.space.com/16042-cosmology.html

By Gabriella Maggiacomo, AP Physics C Mechanics, October 2017

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