Classic vs. Modern Physics
I don't like it, and I'm sorry I ever had anything to do with it.Was Newton right? Is F=ma really the solution to all of world's problems? Doesn't F=ma seems too simple? If you have doubts about some of Newton's laws, you're right. While Newton's laws such as F=ma and F=Gm1m2/r2 give us good approximations, they are not the answer to all physics problems. The flaws of Newton's law began to appear in the beginning of twentieth century as scientists began dabbling with quantum physics and the like. So what are the flaws?
- Erwin Schrodinger talking about quantum mechanics.
Mass is Conserved...
It seems logical that mass is conserved...mass can neither be created nor destroyed.
But alas, that is not the whole truth; mass can be created or
destroyed, but with a string attached.
Everyone knows of Einstein and his famous equation E = mc2,
but do you actually know what that equation means?
In the equation E is energy, m is mass, and c is the speed of light. So the equation tells us that mass can be described in terms of energy and that mass and energy are not independent entities. But in fact their conservation are intertwined into one. So mass can be created or destroyed if equivalent energy is created or destroyed.
Gravity...
Newton simply thought that gravity was another force and that
two masses have some mysterious force pulling them together. Einstein thought otherwise; he believed that mass curves the space arround it and because of this curvature in space, objects are "attracted" to each other. Think of space as a pool table that the pocket holes are large objects. As the objects
approach large objects (pocket holes), they are sunk in to them.
While it has been proven that mass curves space, some scientists now believe
that Newton might have been right also. Many scientists have
theorized that there are quantum particles that move
to and from objects thus attracting the objects together.
There are many other cases where classical physics fail. However, do not think that classical physics is worthless; classical physics is still valuable to making realistic but not perfect models and studying phenomena.
