Whatever we do, either we are launching a space exploration program else we are trying to discover or hypothesize or invent something on our planet earth; we need some fundamental laws and theories to synthesize a body of evidence or observations of a particular phenomenon. In this article, we’ll look at 8 scientific laws and theories you really should know. Today we will start off with the Big Bang that how our universe works to the Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle that tells us that the concept of exact position and momentum together has no meaning in nature.
8. The Big Bang Theory
#the big bang theory credit: imgur.com |
7. Hubble’s Law Of Cosmic Expansion
Hubble’s law of cosmic expansion credit: Wikimedia Commons |
6. Kepler’s Laws Of Planetary Motion
Diagram of Kepler’s three laws with two planetary orbits Credit: Wikimedia Commons |
- The path of a planet is elliptical with the sun at one of the two foci.
- A line segment joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal intervals of time.
- The square of the time period of a planet is proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit.
5. Newton’s Law Of Universal Gravitation And Laws Of Motion
where
F = force between two masses
m1 = mass of the first object
m2 = mass of the second object
G = gravitational constant (6.674×10−11 N · (m/kg)2)
r = distance between the center of the two masses
diagram of two masses attracting one another Credit: Wikimedia Commons |
Just because of Issac Newton’s law of universal gravitation scientists are able to calculate the gravitational pull between two objects and able to put artificial satellites in orbit to detect weather etc.
let’s talk about newton’s other famous work i.e newton’s laws of motion. Issac Newton gave simple and easy to understand three laws of motion that are an essential component of Classical Physics.
The three laws of motion are as follow
- In an inertial frame of reference, an object stays in motion unless acted upon by an outside force.
- The acceleration of an object is given by vector sum of all the forces divided by its mass (where mass remains constant)
- For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
4. Laws Of Thermodynamics
Carnot heat engine working because of laws of thermodynamics Credit: Wikimedia Commons |
- Zeroth law of thermodynamics states that: if two systems are in thermal equilibrium with a third system, they are in thermal equilibrium with each other.
- The first law of thermodynamics states that: the change in the internal energy of a system is equal to the difference between heat added to the system from its surroundings and work done by the system on its surroundings.
- The second law of thermodynamics states that: in a natural thermodynamic process, the sum of the entropies of the interacting thermodynamic systems always increases
- The third law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of a system approaches a constant value as the temperature of the system approaches absolute zero.
3. Archimedes buoyancy principle
One day, the greatest mathematician of classical antiquity Archimedes of Syracuse was about to take bath, when he himself entered into a bathtub, he discovered that the water level increased when he entered in the bathtub. After his discovery of what we today know as Archimedes Principle, the Greek scholar was completely shocked that he didn’t even recognize that he was running naked on the streets of Syracuse yelling Eureka (a Greek word meaning “I found it”).
Any object, wholly or partially immersed in a stationary fluid, is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the object.
2.Einstein’s Theory Of General Relativity
1. Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle
The uncertainty principle as in the words of Werner Heisenberg; and he quote
the concept of exact position and momentum together has no meaning in nature
Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle Credit: Wikimedia Commons |
In simple words, it is impossible to simultaneously know two properties of a particle with a high level of precision. Or one can regard that at one time you can know the exact position of a particle with high precision but not its momentum or vice-versa.
Heisenberg’s work of uncertainty principle gained more appreciation from the scientific community when Neil Bohr discovered that an electron has a quality of both particles as well as waves, which in today’s world famously known as wave-particle duality.