A View of the World Through the Lens of Physics

Article which I wrote back in college, as seen here.,

Humans are natural learners. From the day we arrive in this world, we are constantly exploring and seeking new patterns. Look at infants, and you will most often see curiosity in their eyes. They all embark on a quest to discover how the things around them work and behave. That is, in essence, the framework of physics. But now the following question arises: how does knowing the basics of physics improve the quality of life of the average person?

The word physics comes from a Greek word meaning “knowledge of nature.” This knowledge can be spoken in words, but it is most accurately described by mathematical formulas. Mathematics is considered (at least by the scientific community) to be the language of the universe. Any occurrence and any property of any object in the universe should, in principle, be able to be described mathematically.

While a cat might not seem to behave in a mathematical fashion, nor possess any mathematical properties, the most fundamental constituents of that cat do. This is because elementary particles making up regular everyday matter possess mathematical properties. Each particle has an assigned numbers representing, for example, their charge. Looking at things from this basis makes this “math is everywhere” statement seem less crazy. But mathematics on its own is just a bunch of numbers and equations (whether they were invented or discovered is a topic for another time). Physics is what takes advantage of this language to explain the things that happen all around us.

To get a better feel for how physics works in everyday life, let’s take an example. If a typical amateur soccer player curves a ball and is then asked how this strange event was produced, he will probably say that he just knows how to do it, but does not know exactly how and why it works. It just does. He can reproduce it again if you want to see it, but that is it. Why would he even need to know exactly how it works? Such useless information. Or is it?

After a thorough examination of the event in a controlled environment (this is where the scientific method comes into play), physicists determine that it is the fluid in which the ball spins that causes a sideways force onto the ball. In physics, a fluid is something that can flow (either a liquid or a gas), and in the case of the kicked soccer ball, the fluid is the surrounding air. Today, the effect that causes this type of curvature is known as the Magnus Effect.

That was very informative, but now what?

Although the Magnus Effect was first discovered in the 17th century and occupies an incredibly small place in the field of physics, it is to this day applied effectively in rotor ships (a.k.a. Flettner ships). These ships are equipped with big spinning cylinders which deflect winds in such a manner (based on the Magnus Effect) that they propel themselves forward without the need of any kind of motor.

Now think about it. A fully loaded ship that travels without the use of fuel? Sounds like a plan, and with all the environmental concerns of today, these ships have gained popularity and are subject to being upgraded using more modern technologies. And all this because while watching a game of tennis, some person named Newton (1642-1726) decided to ask himself, “Why is it that the tennis ball curves when hit in specific ways?”

But then again, why would the average person, who will never have to apply physics in his day to day life, need to know even the basics of the field? Since at the end of the day, it’s not everyone who is in charge of designing and building that ship that bases its functioning on a law of physics. To hit the point home, let’s say every single person in the world had some basic level of scientific literacy. What would that change?

People tend to think that physics is a hard to reach subject that is absent from the everyday world. However, physics is more than just a set of information used by engineers and scientists only. You might think that it’s a way of seeing the world, but it’s even more than that. In fact, it is seeing the world as it really is! Seeing what the universe is made of and how it behaves at its more fundamental level. The beauty of physics is that it doesn’t matter whether we believe in the image that it provides us or not, because it shows us what really is, and it will not change to accommodate anyone’s beliefs about how they would like the universe to behave. Man-made laws such as traffic laws can be broken, but with the laws of physics, we don’t stand a chance! For that reason alone, it makes sense to understand the rules that govern the world we live in.

To this day, different people are preoccupied with different things. Everyone has their own opinions about a wide variety of topics. But those opinions are not always based on facts, and when faced with the truth, opinions don’t matter anymore. Science as a whole is what searches for that truth. But how much science is enough for a person to be considered “scientifically literate.” Basic scientific literacy does not imply learning by heart the exact value of different constants and equations. It rather implies the adoption of the scientific method as a guiding tool to analyze any given situation in life. Knowing just enough to the point where you can analyze some basic data and come up with your own conclusions would be ideal. This could come in handy when confronted with other people’s claims regarding just about anything. People would start forming logical ideas about different matters and base their opinions on a more concrete basis. Society as a whole would start making more correct decisions. In fact, as Neil deGrasse Tyson, the famous astrophysicist and science communicator, has said,

“you have not fully expressed your power as a voter until you have scientific literacy in topics that matter for future political issues.”