Portal:Physics
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Physics is the natural science of matter, involving the study of matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. Physics is one of the most fundamental scientific disciplines. A scientist who specializes in the field of physics is called a physicist.
Physics is one of the oldest academic disciplines and, through its inclusion of astronomy, perhaps the oldest. Over much of the past two millennia, physics, chemistry, biology, and certain branches of mathematics were a part of natural philosophy, but during the Scientific Revolution in the 17th century these natural sciences emerged as unique research endeavors in their own right. Physics intersects with many interdisciplinary areas of research, such as biophysics and quantum chemistry, and the boundaries of physics are not rigidly defined. New ideas in physics often explain the fundamental mechanisms studied by other sciences and suggest new avenues of research in these and other academic disciplines such as mathematics and philosophy.
Advances in physics often enable new technologies. For example, advances in the understanding of electromagnetism, solid-state physics, and nuclear physics led directly to the development of new products that have dramatically transformed modern-day society, such as television, computers, domestic appliances, and nuclear weapons; advances in thermodynamics led to the development of industrialization; and advances in mechanics inspired the development of calculus. (Full article...)
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word soaring is also used for the sport.
Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s. Initially the objective was to increase the duration of flights but soon pilots attempted cross-country flights away from the place of launch. Improvements in aerodynamics and in the understanding of weather phenomena have allowed greater distances at higher average speeds. Long distances are now flown using any of the main sources of rising air: ridge lift, thermals and lee waves. When conditions are favourable, experienced pilots can now fly hundreds of kilometres before returning to their home airfields; occasionally flights of more than 1,000 kilometres (621 mi) are achieved. (Full article...)Did you know -
![Neptune](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/Neptune_Full.jpg/125px-Neptune_Full.jpg)
- ... that Aristotle's ideas of physics held that because an object could not move without an immediate source of energy, arrows created a vacuum behind them that pushed them through the air.
- ... that there are up to 6 candidates for the Theory of everything, minus String theory and Loop quantum gravity?
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![]() Engraving of André-Marie Ampère | |
Born | |
Died | 10 June 1836 Marseille, France | (aged 61)
Nationality | French |
Known for | Ampère's circuital law, Ampère's force law |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Physics |
Institutions | École Polytechnique |
Signature | |
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André-Marie Ampère (20 January 1775 – 10 June 1836) was a French physicist and mathematician who is generally regarded as one of the main founders of the science of classical electromagnetism, which he referred to as "electrodynamics". The electric current unit of measurement known as the ampere is named after him.
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August anniversaries
- 2 August 1932 – The positron is discovered by Carl D. Anderson.
- 2 August 1939 – Einstein and Leó Szilárd urge Franklin D. Roosevelt to begin the Manhattan project.
- 3 August 1958 – USS Nautilus under the Arctic ice cap.
- 3 August 1972 – U.S. Senate ratifies Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
Birthdays
- 1820 - John Tyndall 2 August
- 1871 - Ernest Rutherford 30 August
- 1887 - Erwin Schrödinger 12 August
- 1902 - Paul Dirac 8 August
- 1931 – Roger Penrose 8 August
- 1934 - Valery Bykovsky 2 August
- 1951 - Edward Witten 26 August
- 1959 – Koichi Tanaka 3 August
Deaths
- 2 August 1922 – Alexander Graham Bell
- 3 August 1942 – Richard Willstätter, Nobel laureate
- 28 August 2006 - Melvin Schwartz, Nobel laureate
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Categories
![Category puzzle](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/C_Puzzle.png/38px-C_Puzzle.png)
Fundamentals: Concepts in physics | Constants | Physical quantities | Units of measure | Mass | Length | Time | Space | Energy | Matter | Force | Gravity | Electricity | Magnetism | Waves
Basic physics: Mechanics | Electromagnetism | Statistical mechanics | Thermodynamics | Quantum mechanics | Theory of relativity | Optics | Acoustics
Specific fields: Acoustics | Astrophysics | Atomic physics | Molecular physics | Optical physics | Computational physics | Condensed matter physics | Nuclear physics | Particle physics | Plasma physics
Tools: Detectors | Interferometry | Measurement | Radiometry | Spectroscopy | Transducers
Background: Physicists | History of physics | Philosophy of physics | Physics education | Physics journals | Physics organizations
Other: Physics in fiction | Physics lists | Physics software | Physics stubs
Physics topics
Classical physics traditionally includes the fields of mechanics, optics, electricity, magnetism, acoustics and thermodynamics. The term Modern physics is normally used for fields which rely heavily on quantum theory, including quantum mechanics, atomic physics, nuclear physics, particle physics and condensed matter physics. General and special relativity are usually considered to be part of modern physics as well.
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