Introduction To PHYSICS

Chapter -1
​ANUGRAH K PRASAD

Super Tech institute

 WHA
T IS
ICS
YS
PH

????
 A precise definition of this
physics (discipline) is neither
possible nor necessary.
The word PHYSICS comes a Greek word meaning
“nature”. Its Sanskrit equivalent is Bhautiki that is
used to refer to study of physical world.
We can broadly describe physics as a study of the
basic laws of nature and their manifestation in
different natural phenomenon.
The great physicist Dr R. P. Feynman has given a
wonderful description of what is “understanding the
nature”.
Suppose we do not know the rules of chess
but can watch the moves of the players. If
we watch the game for a long time, we may make out
some of the rules. With the knowledge of these rules
we may try to understand why a player played a
move. However, this may be a very difficult
task. Even if we know all the rules of chess, it is not
so simple to understand all the complications of a game
in each situation and predict the correct move.
Knowing the basic rules is, however, the minimum
requirement if any progress is to be made.
 One may guess at a wrong rule by partially watching the game. The
experienced player may make use of a rule for the first time and the Could you understand me????.......NATURE
observer of the game may get surprised. Because of the new move
some of the rules guessed at may prove to be wrong and the observer
will frame new rules.

 Physics goes the same way. The nature around us is like a big chess
game played by Nature. The events in the nature are like the moves of
the great game. We can watch the events of nature and guess at the
basic rules according to which the events take place. We may come
across new events which do not follow the rules guessed earlier and
we may have to declare the old rules inapplicable or wrong and
discover new rules.

 Since physics is the study of nature, it is real. No one has been given
the authority to frame the rules of physics. We only discover the rules
that are operating in nature. Aryabhat, Newton, Einstein or Feynman
are great physicists because from the observations available at that
time, they could guess and frame the laws of physics which explained
these observations in a convincing way. But there can be a new
phenomenon any day and if the rules discovered by the great scientists
are not able to explain this phenomenon, no one will hesitate to
change these rules.
Continuee………….

In Physics, we attempt to explain diverse physical phenomenon in terms of a few concepts and laws. The efforts is
to see the physical world as manifestation of some universal laws in different domains and conditions.

For example, the same law of gravitation (given by Newton) describes the fall of an apple to ground , the motion of
planet around the sun.

A related effort is to derive the properties of a bigger, more complex, system from properties of a bigger, more
complex, system from the properties and interactions of its constituent simpler parts. This approach is called
reductionism and is at the heart of physics.

1.Ontological reductionism: a belief that the whole of reality consists of a minimal number of parts.

2.Methodological reductionism: the scientific attempt to provide explanation in terms of ever smaller
entities.

3.Theory reductionism: the suggestion that a newer theory does not replace or absorb an older one,
but reduces it to more basic terms. Theory reduction itself is divisible into three parts: translation,
derivation and explanation.
ARE U CURIOUS
One kind of response from the earliest times has been to observe the physical
environment carefully, look for any meaningful patterns and relations in natural
phenomena, and build and use new tools to interreact with nature . This human
endeavour led, in course of time, to modern science and technology.
 SCIENCE = VIGYAN = ILM

KNOWLEDGE

The early civilisation of Egypt, India, China, Greece, Mesopotamia and many made vital contributions to
its progress.

From the sixteenth centuries onwards, great strides were made in science in Europe.. By the middle of
twentieth century, science had become a truly international enterprise, with many culture and countries
contributing to its rapid growth.
 Science :

 Is a systematic attempt to understand natural phenomenon in as much

detail and depth as possible.

 Use the knowledge so gained to predict, modify and control phenomenon.

 Is exploring , experimenting and predicting from what we see around us.

The curiosity to learn about the world, unravelling the secrets

of nature is the first step towards the discovery of science.
Scientific method involves several interconnected steps:

 Systematic observations

 Controlled experiments

 Qualitative & Quantitative reasoning

 Mathematical modelling

 Prediction

 Verification or falsification of theories.

Always remember:
The interplay of theory and observation (or experiment) is basic to the progress of science. Science is ever dynamic.
There is no final theory in science and no unquestioned authority among scientists. As observation improve in detail and
precision or experiments yield a new results, theories must account for them, if necessary, by introducing modifications.

Example:

In the beginning of twentieth century, it was realised that Newtonian mechanics, till then a very successful theory,
could not explain some of most basic features of atomic phenomenon. Similarly the then accepted wave picture of
light failed to explain the photoelectric effect properly. This led to the development of a radically new theory
(Quantum Mechanics) to deal with atomic and molecular phenomenon.
SCOPE AND EXCITEMENT OF PHYSICS
We can get some idea of the scope of physics by looking at its various sub-disciplines. Basically, there are two domains of
interest : macroscopic and microscopic.

 The macroscopic domain includes phenomena at the laboratory, terrestrial and astronomical scales.

 The microscopic domain includes atomic, molecular and nuclear phenomena*.

 Classical Physics deals mainly with macroscopic phenomena and includes subjects like Mechanics, Electrodynamics,
Optics and Thermodynamics.

 Mechanics founded on Newton’s laws of motion and the law of gravitation is concerned with the motion (or
equilibrium) of particles, rigid and deformable bodies, and general systems of particles. The propulsion of a rocket by a
jet of ejecting gases, propagation of water waves or sound waves in air, the equilibrium of a bent rod under a load, etc.,
are problems of mechanics.

 Electrodynamics deals with electric and magnetic phenomena associated with charged and magnetic bodies. Its basic
laws were given by Coulomb, Oersted, Ampere and Faraday, and encapsulated by Maxwell in his famous set of
equations.

 The motion of a current-carrying conductor in a magnetic field, the response of a circuit to an ac voltage (signal), the
working of an antenna, the propagation of radio waves in the ionosphere, etc., are problems of electrodynamics.
 Optics deals with the phenomena involving light. The working of telescopes and microscopes, colours exhibited by thin
films, etc., are topics in optics.

 Thermodynamics, in contrast to mechanics, does not deal with the motion of bodies as a whole. Rather, it deals with
systems in macroscopic equilibrium and is concerned with changes in internal energy, temperature, entropy, etc., of the
system through external work and transfer of heat. The efficiency of heat engines and refrigerators, the direction of a
physical or chemical process, etc., are problems of interest in thermodynamics.

 The microscopic domain of physics deals with the constitution and structure of matter at the minute scales of atoms and
nuclei (and even lower scales of length) and their interaction with different probes such as electrons, photons and other
elementary particles.

 Classical physics is inadequate to handle this domain and Quantum Theory is currently accepted as the proper framework
for explaining microscopic phenomena. Overall, the edifice of physics is beautiful and imposing and you will appreciate it
more as you pursue the subject. You can now see that the scope of physics is truly vast. It covers a tremendous range of
magnitude of physical quantities like length, mass, time, energy, etc. At one end, it studies phenomena at the very small
scale of length (10^(-14) m or even less) involving electrons, protons, etc.; at the other end, it deals with astronomical
phenomena at the scale of galaxies or even the entire universe whose extent is of the order of 10^26 m. The two length
scales differ by a factor of 10^40 or even more. The range of time scales can be obtained by dividing the length scales by
the speed of light : 10^(–22 )s to 10^18 s. The range of masses goes from, say, 10^(–30) kg (mass of an electron) to 10^55
kg (mass of known observable universe). Terrestrial phenomena lie somewhere in the middle of this range.
 Talks on history & philosophy of Physics

Western Views Plato and

Indian
Aristotle
Views views

Plato and Aristotle views

Galalio Views

Newton Views

Einstein Views Plato and Aristotle views

 We all have an intuitive notion of force. In our experience, force is needed to push, carry or throw objects, deform or
break them. We also experience the impact of forces on us, like when a moving object hits us or we are in a merry-
ground.
 Going from this intuitive notion to the proper scientific concept of force is not a trivial matter. Early thinkers like
Aristotle had wrong ideas about it. The correct notion of force was arrived at by Isaac Newton in his famous laws of
motion. He also gave an explicit form for the force for gravitational attraction between two bodies. We shall learn
these matters in subsequent chapters.

 Aristotelian physics is a correct and nonintuitive approximation of Newtonian physics in the suitable domain (motion
in fluids) in the same technical sense in which Newton’s theory is an approximation of Einstein’s theory.”
 Aristotle taught that the substances making up the Earth were different from the substance making up the heavens. He also taught that dynamics (the branch of
physics that deals with motion) was primarily determined by the nature of the substance that was moving.

 For example, stripped to its essentials, Aristotle believed that a stone fell to the ground because the stone and the ground were similar in substance (in terms of the
4 basic elements, they were mostly "earth").

 Likewise, smoke rose away from the Earth because in terms of the 4 basic elements it was primarily air (and some fire), and therefore the smoke wished to be
closer to air and further away from earth and water.

 By the same token, Aristotle held that the more perfect substance (the "quintessence") that made up the heavens had as its nature to execute perfect (that is,
uniform circular) motion.

 He also believed that objects only moved as long as they were pushed. Thus, objects on the Earth stopped moving once applied forces were removed, and the
heavenly spheres only moved because of the action of the Prime Mover, who continually applied the force to the outer spheres that turned the entire heavens. (A
notorious problem for the Aristotelian view was why arrows shot from a bow continued to fly through the air after they had left the bow and the string was no
longer applying force to them. Elaborate explanations were hatched; for example, it was proposed that the arrow creating a vacuum behind it into which air rushed
and applied a force to the back of the arrow!)

 Thus, Aristotle believed that the laws governing the motion of the heavens were a different set of laws than those that governed motion on the earth. As we have
seen, Galileo's concept of inertia was quite contrary to Aristotle's ideas of motion: in Galileo's dynamics the arrow (with very small frictional forces) continued to
fly through the air because of the law of inertia, while a block of wood on a table stopped sliding once the applied force was removed because of frictional forces
that Aristotle had failed to analyze correctly.

 In addition, Galileo's extensive telescopic observations of the heavens made it more and more plausible that they were not made from a perfect, unchanging
substance. In particular, Galileo's observational confirmation of the Copernican hypothesis suggested that the Earth was just another planet, so maybe it was made
from the same material as the other planets.

 Thus, the groundwork was laid by Galileo (and to a lesser extent by others like Kepler and Copernicus) to overthrow the physics of Aristotle, in addition to his
astronomy. It fell to Isaac Newton to bring these threads together and to demonstrate that the laws that governed the heavens were the same laws that governed
motion on the surface of the Earth.
 Aristotle views on Physics

The way Aristotle believed The way objects actually

objects to fall on the Earth fall to Earth
 Conservation of momentum leads to clockwork Universe
/ Beginning of mechanical view of Nature

 A corollary to Newton's ideas was the so called

Clockwork Universe model.

 A concept that states that the total momentum of the

Universe is conserved, interactions redistribute the
momentum, but the total never changes.

 In this model, God only starts the clock (initial cause),

then it runs by itself for the rest of time.
 Physics is exciting in many ways. To some people the excitement comes from the elegance and universality of its basic
theories, from the fact that a few basic concepts and laws can explain phenomena covering a large range of magnitude of
physical quantities.

 To some others, the challenge in carrying out imaginative new experiments to unlock the secrets of nature, to verify or
refute theories, is thrilling.

 Applied physics is equally demanding. Application and exploitation of physical laws to make useful devices is the most
interesting and exciting part and requires great ingenuity and persistence of effort.

 What lies behind the phenomenal progress of physics in the last few centuries? Great progress usually accompanies
changes in our basic perceptions.

 First, it was realised that for scientific progress, only qualitative thinking, though no doubt important, is not enough.
Quantitative measurement is central to the growth of science, especially physics, because the laws of nature happen to be
expressible in precise mathematical equations.

 The second most important insight was that the basic laws of physics are universal — the same laws apply in widely
different contexts.

 Lastly, the strategy of approximation turned out to be very successful. Most observed phenomena in daily life are rather
complicated manifestations of the basic laws.
 Scientists recognized the importance of extracting the essential features of a phenomenon from its less significant aspects.

 It is not practical to consider all the complexities of a phenomenon in one go. A good strategy is to focus first on the
essential features, discover the basic principles and then introduce corrections to build a more refined theory of the
phenomenon.

 For example, a stone and a feather dropped from the same height do not reach the ground at the same time. The reason is
that the essential aspect of the phenomenon, namely free fall under gravity, is complicated by the presence of air
resistance. To get the law of free fall under gravity, it is better to create a situation wherein the air resistance is negligible.
We can, for example, let the stone and the feather fall through a long-evacuated tube. In that case, the two objects will fall
almost at the same rate, giving the basic law that acceleration due to gravity is independent of the mass of the object. With
the basic law thus found, we can go back to the feather, introduce corrections due to air resistance, modify the existing
theory and try to build a more realistic.
 Physics, Technology And Society
 The connection between physics, technology and society can be seen in many examples. The discipline of thermodynamics
arose from the need to understand and improve the working of heat engines. The steam engine, as we know, is inseparable
from the Industrial Revolution in England in the eighteenth century, which had great impact on the course of human
civilization.

 Sometimes technology gives rise to new physics; at other times physics generates new technology. An example of the latter
is the wireless communication technology that followed the discovery of the basic laws of electricity and magnetism in the
nineteenth century.

 The applications of physics are not always easy to foresee. As late as 1933, the great physicist Ernest Rutherford had
dismissed the possibility of tapping energy from atoms. But only a few years later, in 1938, Hahn and Meitner discovered
the phenomenon of neutron-induced fission of uranium, which would serve as the basis of nuclear power reactors and
nuclear weapons.

 Yet another important example of physics giving rise to technology is the silicon ‘chip’ that triggered the computer
revolution in the last three decades of the twentieth century. A most significant area to which physics has and will
contribute is the development of alternative energy resources. The fossil fuels of the planet are dwindling fast and there is
an urgent need to discover new and affordable sources of energy.
 Considerable progress has already been made in this direction (for example, in conversion of solar energy, geothermal
energy, etc., into electricity), but much more is still to be accomplished.

 The progress of science is unstoppable! Physics is the study of nature and natural phenomena. Physicists try to discover
the rules that are operating in nature, on the basis of observations, experimentation and analysis. Physics deals with
certain basic rules/laws governing the natural world.

 What is the nature of physical laws? We shall now discuss the nature of fundamental forces and the laws that govern the
diverse phenomena of the physical world. theory of objects falling to the earth under gravity.

 In the macroscopic world, besides the gravitational force, we encounter several kinds of forces: muscular force, contact
forces between bodies, friction (which is also a contact force parallel to the surfaces in contact), the forces exerted by
compressed or elongated springs and taut strings and ropes (tension), the force of buoyancy and viscous force when
solids are in contact with fluids, the force due to pressure of a fluid, the force due to surface tension of a liquid, and so on.

 There are also forces involving charged and magnetic bodies. In the microscopic domain again, we have electric and
magnetic forces, nuclear forces involving protons and neutrons, interatomic and intermolecular forces, etc.

 We shall get familiar with some of these forces in later parts of this course. A great insight of the twentieth century
physics is that these different forces occurring in different contexts actually arise from only a small number of
fundamental forces in nature.
 For example, the elastic spring force arises due to the net attraction/repulsion between the neighboring atoms of the
spring when the spring is elongated/compressed. This net attraction/repulsion can be traced to the (unbalanced) sum of
electric forces between the charged constituents of the atoms. In principle, this means that the laws for ‘derived’ forces
(such as spring force, friction) are not independent of the laws of fundamental forces in nature. The origin of these
derived forces is, however, very complex. At the present stage of our understanding, we know of four fundamental forces
in nature, which are described in brief here :

The four fundamental forces in nature:

1. Gravitational Force – Weakest force; but has infinite range. (Not part of the standard model)
2. Weak Nuclear Force – Next weakest; but short range.
3. Electromagnetic Force – Stronger, with infinite range.
4. Strong Nuclear Force – Strongest; but short range.
Electroweak Theory and Grand Unification Theories (GUT)

 There is speculation, that In the very early Universe when temperatures were very high (the Planck Scale) all four
forces were unified into a single force. Then, as the temperature dropped, gravitation separated first and then the
other 3 forces separated. Even then, the weak, electromagnetic, and strong forces were unified into a single force.
When the temperature dropped these forces got separated from each other, with the strong force separating first
and then at a still lower temperature the electromagnetic and weak forces separating to leave us with the 4 distinct
forces that we see in our present Universe. The process of the forces separating from each other is
called spontaneous symmetry breaking.

 The weak and electromagnetic interactions have been unified under the Standard Electroweak Theory, or
sometimes just the Standard Model. (Glashow, Weinberg, and Salaam were awarded the Nobel Prize for this in
1979). [Unification of Weak forces except for gravity]
 Grand unification theories attempt to treat both strong and electroweak interactions under the same mathematical
structure. [Unification of Weak forces and strong forces] PS: Attempts to include gravitation in this picture have not
yet been successful.
  Theories that add gravity to the mix and try to unify all four fundamental forces into a single force are called
Superunified Theories.

 PS: Grand Unified and Superunified Theories remain theoretical speculations that are as yet unproven, but there is
strong experimental evidence for the unification of the electromagnetic and weak interactions in the Standard
Electroweak Theory. Furthermore, although GUTs are not proven experimentally, there is strong circumstantial
evidence to suggest that theory at least like a Grand Unified Theory is required to make sense of the Universe.
Gravitational force
The gravitational force is the force of mutual attraction between any two objects by virtue of their masses. It is a
universal force. Every object experiences this force due to every other object in the universe. All objects on the
earth, for example, experience the force of gravity due to the earth. In particular, gravity governs the motion of the
moon and artificial satellites around the earth, motion of the earth and planets around the sun, and, of course, the
motion of bodies falling to the earth. It plays a key role in the large-scale phenomena of the universe, such as
formation and evolution of stars, galaxies and galactic clusters.
The gravitational force is weak but very long-ranged. Furthermore, it is always attractive. It acts between
any two pieces of matter in the Universe since mass is its source
Electromagnetic force
Electromagnetic force is the force between charged particles. In the simpler case when charges are at rest, the force is given
by Coulomb’s law : attractive for unlike charges and repulsive for like charges. Charges in motion produce magnetic effects
and a magnetic field gives rise to a force on a moving charge. Electric and magnetic effects are, in general, inseparable –
hence the name electromagnetic force. Like the gravitational force, electromagnetic force acts over large distances and does
not need any intervening medium. It is enormously strong compared to gravity. The electric force between two protons, for
example, is 1036 times the gravitational force between them, for any fixed distance. Matter, as we know, consists of
elementary charged constituents like electrons and protons. Since the electromagnetic force is so much stronger than the
gravitational force, it dominates all phenomena at atomic and molecular scales. (The other two forces, as we shall see,
operate only at nuclear scales).Thus it is mainly the electromagnetic force that governs the structure of atoms and molecules,
the dynamics of chemical reactions and the mechanical, thermal and other properties of materials. It underlies the
macroscopic forces like ‘tension’, ‘friction’, ‘normal force’, ‘spring force’, etc. Gravity is always attractive, while
electromagnetic force can be attractive or repulsive. Another way of putting it is that mass comes only in one variety (there is
no negative mass), but charge comes in two varieties : positive and negative charge. This is what makes all the difference.
Matter is mostly electrically neutral (net charge is zero). Thus, electric force is largely zero and gravitational force dominates
terrestrial phenomena. Electric force manifests itself in atmosphere where the atoms are ionised and that leads to lightning.
If we reflect a little, the enormous strength of the electromagnetic force compared to gravity is evident in our daily life. When
we hold a book in our hand, we are balancing the gravitational force on the book due to the huge mass of the earth by the
‘normal force’ provided by our hand. The latter is nothing but the net electromagnetic force between the charged
constituents of our hand and the book, at the surface in contact. If electromagnetic force were not intrinsically so much
stronger than gravity, the hand of the strongest man would crumble under the weight of a feather ! Indeed, to be consistent,
in that circumstance, we ourselves would crumble under our own weight !
The electromagnetic force causes electric and magnetic effects such as the repulsion between like electrical
charges or the interaction of bar magnets. It is long-ranged but much weaker than the strong force. It can be
attractive or repulsive and acts only between pieces of matter carrying an electrical charge. Electricity, magnetism,
and light are all produced by this force.
Strong Nuclear force
 The strong nuclear force binds protons and neutrons in a nucleus. It is evident that without some attractive force, a nucleus
will be unstable due to the electric repulsion between its protons. This attractive force cannot be gravitational since force of
gravity is negligible compared to the electric force. A new basic force must, therefore, be invoked. The strong nuclear force is
the strongest of all fundamental forces, about 100 times the electromagnetic force in strength. It is charge-independent and
acts equally between a proton and a proton, a neutron and a neutron, and a proton and a neutron. Its range is, however,
extremely small, of about nuclear dimensions (10^ (–15)m). It is responsible for the stability of nuclei. The electron, it must
be noted, does not experience this force. Recent developments have, however, indicated that protons and neutrons are built
out of still more elementary constituents called quarks.
 The strong interaction is very strong but very short-ranged. It is responsible for holding the nuclei of atoms
together. It is basically attractive but can be effectively repulsive in some circumstances. The strong force is
‘carried’ by particles called gluons; that is, when two particles interact through the strong force, they do so by
exchanging gluons. Thus, the quarks inside of the protons and neutrons are bound together by the exchange of
the strong nuclear force.

 Note:  While they are close together the quarks experience little force, but as they separate the force between
them grows rapidly, pulling them back together. To separate two quarks completely would require far more
energy than any possible particle accelerator could provide.
weak nuclear force
The weak nuclear force appears only in certain nuclear processes such as the β-decay of a nucleus. In β-decay, the nucleus
emits an electron and an uncharged particle called neutrino. The weak nuclear force is not as weak as the gravitational
force, but much weaker than the strong nuclear and electromagnetic forces. The range of weak nuclear force is
exceedingly small, of the order of 10 ^ (–16) m.
The weak force is responsible for radioactive decay and neutrino interactions. It has a very short range and. As its
name indicates, it is very weak. The weak force causes Beta-decay ie. the conversion of a neutron into a proton, an
electron and an antineutrino
 The Four Fundamental Forces that governs the behaviour of matter in the
Universe
Strong Nuclear Force Electromagnetic Force Weak Nuclear Force Gravitational Force

Quark and gluone Electrically charged quark and lepton All particle with mass

Changes protons to neutrons

and vice versa, emitting
radiation

Holds atom together but allows Hold universe together and

trigger nucleus fusion causing
Holds atom's nuclues together for bonding and formation of allows for its accelerating
star to burn
chemical molecules expansion
Acts between electrically Acts between the object
Bind quarks together Govern particle decay
charged particles within the mass
Bind nucleons together hold electron in its place allows radiation Hold galaxy together
Relative Strength: 10 ^ 39 10^36 10^25 1
Range : Diameter of nucleus 10 ^(-
infinite 10^(-18) infinite
15)
Particle mediator: gluons photons W and Z bosons Gravitons (unconfirmed)

Particle mass: 0 0 Heaviest known partices 0

Relative Strength

Current Theory :
Quantum electrodynamics Electro weak theory General Theory
Quantum Chromodynamics
Towards Unification of Forces
 Unification is a basic quest in physics.
 Table : Progress in unification of different forces/domains in nature
Name of Physicist Year Achievement in Unification

Unified celestial and terrestrial mechanism : showed that the same laws of motion and the law of gravitation apply to both the
Issac Newton 1687
domains.

Hans Christian Oersted 1820

Michael Faraday 1830 Showed that electric and magnetic phenomena are inseparable aspects of a unified domain: electromagnetism. Unified electricity,
1873 magnetism and optics: showed that light is an electromagnetic wave.
James Clerk Maxwell

Sheldon Glashow
Adus Salam 1979 Showed that the 'weak' nuclear force and the electromagnetic force could be viewed as different aspects of a single electro-weak-weak
Steven force.
Weinberg
Carlo Rubia
1984 Verified experimentally the predictions of the theory of electro-weak force
Simon Vander Meer
Table : Fundamental forces of nature
Name Relative strength Range Operates among
Gravitational force 10 ^ (-39) infinite, All objects in the universe

Weak nuclear force 10 ^ (-13) Sub-nuclear size (∼10^(–16)m) Some elementary particles,
particularly electron and neutrino

Electromagnetic force 10 ^ (-39) infinite, Charged particles

Nucleons, heavier elementary

Strong nuclear force 1 Short, nuclear size (∼10^(–15)m)
particles
NATURE OF PHYSICAL LAWS
Physicists explore the universe. Their investigations, based on scientific processes, range from particles that are smaller than
atoms in size to stars that are very far away. In addition to finding the facts by observation and experimentation, physicists
attempt to discover the laws that summarise (often as mathematical equations) these facts. In any physical phenomenon
governed by different forces, several quantities may change with time. A remarkable fact is that some special physical quantities,
however, remain constant in time. They are the conserved quantities of nature. Understanding these conservation principles is
very important to describe the observed phenomena quantitatively. For motion under an external conservative force, the total
mechanical energy i.e. the sum of kinetic and potential energy of a body is a constant. The familiar example is the free fall of an
object under gravity. Both the kinetic energy of the object and its potential energy change continuously with time, but the sum
remains fixed. If the object is released from rest, the initial potential energy is completely converted into the kinetic energy of
the object just before it hits the ground. This law restricted for a conservative force should not be confused with the general law
of conservation of energy of an isolated system (which is the basis of the First Law of Thermodynamics). The concept of energy
is central to physics and the expressions for energy can be written for every physical system. When all forms of energy e.g., heat,
mechanical energy, electrical energy etc., are counted, it turns out that energy is conserved. The general law of conservation of
energy is true for all forces and for any kind of transformation between different forms of energy. In the falling object example, if
you include the effect of air resistance during the fall and see the situation after the object hits the ground and stays there, the
total mechanical energy is obviously not conserved.
The general law of energy conservation, however, is still applicable. The initial potential energy of the stone gets transformed into
other forms of energy : heat and sound. (Ultimately, sound after it is absorbed becomes heat.) The total energy of the system
(stone plus the surroundings) remains unchanged. The law of conservation of energy is thought to be valid across all domains of
nature, from the microscopic to the macroscopic. It is routinely applied in the analysis of atomic, nuclear and elementary particle
processes. At the other end, all kinds of violent phenomena occur in the universe all the time. Yet the total energy of the universe
(the most ideal isolated system possible !) is believed to remain unchanged. Until the advent of Einstein’s theory of relativity, the
law of conservation of mass was regarded as another basic conservation law of nature, since matter was thought to be
indestructible. It was (and still is) an important principle used, for example, in the analysis of chemical reactions. A chemical
reaction is basically a rearrangement of atoms among different molecules. If the total binding energy of the reacting molecules is
less than the total binding energy of the product molecules, the difference appears as heat and the reaction is exothermic. The
opposite is true for energy absorbing (endothermic) reactions. However, since the atoms are merely rearranged but not
destroyed, the total mass of the reactants is the same as the total mass of the products in a chemical reaction. The changes in the
binding energy are too small to be measured as changes in mass. According to Einstein’s theory, mass m is equivalent to energy E
given by the relation E = mc^2 , where c is speed of light in vacuum. In a nuclear process mass gets converted to energy (or vice-
versa). This is the energy which is released in a nuclear power generation and nuclear explosions.
Energy is a scalar quantity. But all conserved quantities are not necessarily scalars. The total linear momentum and the total
angular momentum (both vectors) of an isolated system are also conserved quantities. These laws can be derived from
Newton’s laws of motion in mechanics. But their validity goes beyond mechanics. They are the basic conservation laws of
nature in all domains, even in those where Newton’s laws may not be valid. Besides their great simplicity and generality, the
conservation laws of nature are very useful in practice too. It often happens that we cannot solve the full dynamics of a
complex problem involving different particles and forces. The conservation laws can still provide useful results. For example,
we may not know the complicated forces that act during a collision of two automobiles; yet momentum conservation law
enables us to bypass the complications and predict or rule out possible outcomes of the collision. In nuclear and elementary
particle phenomena also, the conservation laws are important tools of analysis. Indeed, using the conservation laws of energy
and momentum for β-decay, Wolfgang Pauli (1900-1958) correctly predicted in 1931 the existence of a new particle (now
called neutrino) emitted in β-decay along with the electron. Conservation laws have a deep connection with symmetries of
nature that you will explore in more advanced courses in physics.
For example, an important observation is that the laws of nature do not change with time! If you perform an experiment in
your laboratory today and repeat the same experiment (on the same objects under identical conditions) after a year, the
results are bound to be the same. It turns out that this symmetry of nature with respect to translation (i.e. displacement) in
time is equivalent to the law of conservation of energy. Likewise, space is homogeneous and there is no (intrinsically) preferred
location in the universe. To put it more clearly, the laws of nature are the same everywhere in the universe. (Caution : the
phenomena may differ from place to place because of differing conditions at different locations. For example, the acceleration
due to gravity at the moon is one-sixth that at the earth, but the law of gravitation is the same both on the moon and the
earth.) This symmetry of the laws of nature with respect to translation in space gives rise to conservation of linear momentum.
In the same way isotropy of space (no intrinsically preferred direction in space) underlies the law of conservation of angular
momentum*. The conservation laws of charge and other attributes of elementary particles can also be related to certain
abstract symmetries. Symmetries of space and time and other abstract symmetries play a central role in modern theories of
fundamental forces in nature.
 Conservation laws in physics:

Conservation of energy, momentum, angular momentum, charge, etc are considered to be fundamental laws in physics. At this
moment, there are many such conservation laws. Apart from the above four, there are others which mostly deal with quantities
which have been introduced in nuclear and particle physics. Some of the conserved quantities are called spin, baryon number,
strangeness, hypercharge, etc, but you need not worry about them. A conservation law is a hypothesis, based on observations
and experiments. It is important to remember that a conservation law cannot be proved. It can be verified, or disproved, by
experiments. An experiment whose result is in conformity with the law verifies or substantiates the law; it does not prove the
law. On the other hand, a single experiment whose result goes against the law is enough to disprove it. It would be wrong to ask
somebody to prove the law of conservation of energy. This law is an outcome of our experience over several centuries, and it
has been found to be valid in all experiments, in mechanics, thermodynamics, electromagnetism, optics, atomic and nuclear
physics, or any other area. Some students feel that they can prove the conservation of mechanical energy from a body falling
under gravity, by adding the kinetic and potential energies at a point and showing that it turns out to be constant. As pointed
out above, this is only a verification of the law, not its proof.
 Hypothesis, axioms and models
One should not think that everything can be proved with physics and mathematics. All physics, and also mathematics, is based on
assumptions, each of which is variously called a hypothesis or axiom or postulate, etc. For example, the universal law of
gravitation proposed by Newton is an assumption or hypothesis, which he proposed out of his ingenuity. Before him, there were
several observations, experiments and data, on the motion of planets around the sun, motion of the moon around the earth,
pendulums, bodies falling towards the earth etc. Each of these required a separate explanation, which was more or less
qualitative. What the universal law of gravitation says is that, if we assume that any two bodies in the universe attract each other
with a force proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them,
then we can explain all these observations in one stroke. It not only explains these phenomena, it also allows us to predict the
results of future experiments. A hypothesis is a supposition without assuming that it is true. It would not be fair to ask anybody
to prove the universal law of gravitation, because it cannot be proved. It can be verified and substantiated by experiments and
observations. An axiom is a self-evident truth while a model is a theory proposed to explain observed phenomena.
But you need not worry at this stage about the nuances in using these words. For example, next year you will learn about
Bohr’s model of hydrogen atom, in which Bohr assumed that an electron in the hydrogen atom follows certain rules
(postutates). Why did he do that? There was a large amount of spectroscopic data before him which no other theory could
explain. So Bohr said that if we assume that an atom behaves in such a manner, we can explain all these things at once.
Einstein’s special theory of relativity is also based on two postulates, the constancy of the speed of electromagnetic radiation
and the validity of physical laws in all inertial frame of reference. It would not be wise to ask somebody to prove that the
speed of light in vacuum is constant, independent of the source or observer. In mathematics too, we need axioms and
hypotheses at every stage. Euclid’s statement that parallel lines never meet, is a hypothesis. This means that if we assume
this statement, we can explain several properties of straight lines and two or three dimensional figures made out of them.
But if you don’t assume it, you are free to use a different axiom and get a new geometry, as has indeed happened in the past
few centuries and decades.
SUMMARY:

1.Physics deals with the study of the basic laws of nature and their manifestation in different phenomena. The basic
laws of physics are universal and apply in widely different contexts and conditions.

2. The scope of physics is wide, covering a tremendous range of magnitude of physical quantities.

3. Physics and technology are related to each other. Sometimes technology gives rise to new physics; at other times
physics generates new technology. Both have direct impact on society.

4. There are four fundamental forces in nature that govern the diverse phenomena of the macroscopic and the
microscopic world. These are the ‘gravitational force’, the ‘electromagnetic force’, the ‘strong nuclear force’, and the
‘weak nuclear force’. Unification of different forces/domains in nature is a basic quest in physics.

5. The physical quantities that remain unchanged in a process are called conserved quantities. Some of the general
conservation laws in nature include the laws of conservation of mass, energy, linear momentum, angular momentum,
charge, parity, etc. Some conservation laws are true for one fundamental force but not for the other.

6. Conservation laws have a deep connection with symmetries of nature. Symmetries of space and time, and other
types of symmetries play a central role in modern theories of fundamental forces in nature.
Lets Discuss:

1.1 Some of the most profound statements on the nature of science have come from Albert Einstein, one of the greatest
scientists of all time. What do you think did Einstein mean when he said : “The most incomprehensible thing about the
world is that it is comprehensible”?

1.2 “Every great physical theory starts as a heresy and ends as a dogma”. Give some examples from the history of science
of the validity of this incisive remark.

1.3 “Politics is the art of the possible”. Similarly, “Science is the art of the soluble”. Explain this beautiful aphorism on the
nature and practice of science.

1.4 Though India now has a large base in science and technology, which is fast expanding, it is still a long way from realising
its potential of becoming a world leader in science. Name some important factors, which in your view have hindered the
advancement of science in India.

1.5 No physicist has ever “seen” an electron. Yet, all physicists believe in the existence of electrons. An intelligent but
superstitious man advances this analogy to argue that ‘ghosts’ exist even though no one has ‘seen’ one. How will you refute
his argument ?

1.6 The shells of crabs found around a particular coastal location in Japan seem mostly to resemble the legendary face of a
Samurai. Given below are two explanations of this observed fact. Which of these strikes you as a scientific explanation ? (a)
A tragic sea accident several centuries ago drowned a young Samurai. As a tribute to his bravery, nature through its
1.6 The shells of crabs found around a particular coastal location in Japan seem mostly to resemble the legendary face of a
Samurai. Given below are two explanations of this observed fact. Which of these strikes you as a scientific explanation ?

(a) A tragic sea accident several centuries ago drowned a young Samurai. As a tribute to his bravery, nature through its
inscrutable ways immortalised his face by imprinting it on the crab shells in that area.

(b) After the sea tragedy, fishermen in that area, in a gesture of honour to their dead hero, let free any crab shell caught by
them which accidentally had a shape resembling the face of a Samurai. Consequently, the particular shape of the crab
shell survived longer and therefore in course of time the shape was genetically propagated. This is an example of evolution
by artificial selection.

1.7 The industrial revolution in England and Western Europe more than two centuries ago was triggered by some key
scientific and technological advances. What were these advances ?

1.8 It is often said that the world is witnessing now a second industrial revolution, which will transform the society as radically
as did the first. List some key contemporary areas of science and technology, which are responsible for this revolution.
1.9 Write in about 1000 words a fiction piece based on your speculation on the science and technology of the twenty-second
century.

1.10 Attempt to formulate your ‘moral’ views on the practice of science. Imagine yourself stumbling upon a discovery, which has
great academic interest but is certain to have nothing but dangerous consequences for the human society. How, if at all, will you
resolve your dilemma ?

1.11 Science, like any knowledge, can be put to good or bad use, depending on the user. Given below are some of the
applications of science. Formulate your views on whether the application is good, bad or something that cannot be so clearly
categorized :
(a) Mass vaccination against smallpox to curb and finally eradicate this disease from the population. (This has already been
successfully done in India).
(b) Television for eradication of illiteracy and for mass communication of news and ideas.
(c) Prenatal sex determination
(d) Computers for increase in work efficiency
(e) Putting artificial satellites into orbits around the Earth
(f ) Development of nuclear weapons
(g) Development of new and powerful techniques of chemical and biological warfare.
(h) Purification of water for drinking
(i) Plastic surgery
(j ) Cloning
1.12 India has had a long and unbroken tradition of great scholarship — in mathematics, astronomy, linguistics, logic and
ethics. Yet, in parallel with this, several superstitious and obscurantistic attitudes and practices flourished in our society and
unfortunately continue even today — among many educated people too. How will you use your knowledge of science to
develop strategies to counter these attitudes ?
1.13 Though the law gives women equal status in India, many people hold unscientific views on a woman’s innate nature,
capacity and intelligence, and in practice give them a secondary status and role. Demolish this view using scientific arguments,
and by quoting examples of great women in science and other spheres; and persuade yourself and others that, given equal
opportunity, women are on par with men.

1.14 “It is more important to have beauty in the equations of physics than to have them agree with experiments”. The great
British physicist P. A. M. Dirac held this view. Criticize this statement. Look out for some equations and results in this book which
strike you as beautiful.

1.15 Though the statement quoted above may be disputed, most physicists do have a feeling that the great laws of physics are at
once simple and beautiful. Some of the notable physicists, besides Dirac, who have articulated this feeling, are : Einstein, Bohr,
Heisenberg, Chandrasekhar and Feynman. You are urged to make special efforts to get access to the general books and writings
by these and other great masters of physics. Their writings are truly inspiring !

1.16 Textbooks on science may give you a wrong impression that studying science is dry and all too serious and that scientists
are absent-minded introverts who never laugh or grin. This image of science and scientists is patently false. Scientists, like any
other group of humans, have their share of humorists, and many have led their lives with a great sense of fun and adventure,
even as they seriously pursued their scientific work. Two great physicists of this genre are Gamow and Feynman. You will enjoy
reading their books listed in the Bibliography.
Mathematics for PHYSICS
Chapter -2
​ANUGRAH K PRASAD

Super Tech institute

Significant Digit
Here are some examples of how to count the number of significant digits:

 3.14159 has six significant digits. That is to say, all the numerals ("digits") give us useful information.

 1000 has one significant digit: only the 1 is interesting (only it tells us anything specific); we don't know anything for
sure about the hundreds, tens, or units places; the zeroes may just be placeholders; they may have rounded something off to
get this value.

 1000.0 has five significant digits: the ".0" tells us something interesting about the presumed accuracy of the
measurement being made; namly, that the measurement is accurate to the tenths place, but that there happen to be zero
tenths.
 0.00035 has two significant digits: only the 3 and 5 tell us something; the other zeroes are placeholders, only
providing information about relative size.

 0.000350 has three significant digits: the last zero tells us that the measurement was made accurate to that last
digit, which just happened to have a value of zero.

 1006 has four significant digits: the 1 and 6 are interesting, and we have to count the zeroes, because they're
between the two interesting numbers.

 560 has two significant digits: the last zero is just a placeholder.

 560. : notice that "point" after the zero! This has three significant digits, because the decimal point tells us that the
measurement was made to the nearest unit, so the zero is not just a placeholder.

 560.0 has four significant digits: the zero in the tenths place means that the measurement was made accurate to
the tenths place, and that there just happen to be zero tenths; the 5 and 6 give useful information, and the other zero is
between significant digits, and must therefore also be counted.
Here are the basic rules for significant digits:

1) All nonzero digits are significant.

2) All zeroes between significant digits are significant.
3) All zeroes which are both to the right of the decimal point and to the right of all non-zero significant digits are
themselves significant.
Ques 1 : Round 742,396 to four, three, and two significant digits:

To do my rounding, I have to start with the first significant digit, which is the 7. Then I count to the right from there. The first
four significant digits of 742,396 are the 7, the 4, the 2, and the 3. Just to the right of the 3 is a 9. Because this value is "5 or
greater", I have to round the 3 up to 4. I replace the remaining digits (the 9 and the 6) with zeroes. Then:
742,400 (four significant digits)

To round 742,396 to three places, I start again with the 7 and include the next two digits, being the 4 and the 2. Since the
next digit is a 3, which is "less than 5", I leave the 2 alone; I don't round up. I replace the three digits after the comma with
zeroes. Then:
742,000 (three significant digits)

To round 742,396 to two places, I use only the first two digits, which are followed by a 2, so I don't round up. Instead, I just
replace the final four digits with zeroes, to get:
740,000 (two significant digits)
Ques 2 : Round 0.07284 to four, three, and two significant digits:

To round 0.07284 to four significant digits, I start with the first significant digit, which is the 7. (The zero between the decimal
point and the 7 is not significant, as it serves only to "place" the 7 into the hundreds place. It provides no information about
the accuracy of the following digits.) There are only three more digits, so all of them will be included in my answer. Since no
digit follows the 4, there is no information about rounding, so I'll just leave the 4 as it is.
0.07284 (four sig-digs)

When rounding 0.07284 to three sig-digs, the final sig-dig is the 8, which is followed by the 4. Since 4 is less than 5, I won't
round up. Because these sig-digs are after the decimal point, I will not replace the 4 with a zero. If I tacked a zero after the 8, I
would be adding an improper digit, as it would be "significant" (according to the rules) but wrong (according to the original
number they gave me). Instead, I drop that last digit entirely. Then:
0.0728 (three sig-digs)

To round 0.07284 to two sig-digs, I use the 7 and the 2. Since the 2 is followed by an 8, I'll round the 2 up to 3; I'll drop
everything that follows.
0.073 (two sig-digs)
Ques 3: Round 231.45 to four, three, and two significant digits:

The first significant digit in 231.45 is the 2. The next three digits are 3, 1, and 4. Since the 4 is followed by a 5, I'll
round the 4 up to 5. Because the original 5 came after the decimal point, I'll drop that digit (and place) from my
answer.
231.5 (four sig-digs)

To round 231.45 to two significant digits, I'll only use the first three digits; the 2, the 3, and the 1. Because the 1 is
followed by a 4, I won't round the 4 up. I'll drop everything after the decimal point. I'll also drop the decimal point
itself, since my final sig-dig isn't a zero. (Had the value in the ones place been a zero, I'd have needed the decimal
point to make clear that the zero was significant.) So I get:
231 (three sig-digs)

To round 231.45 to two sig-digs, I'll use only the first two digits; the 2 and the 3. Because the 3 is followed by a 1, I
won't be rounding up. I will need to replace the 1 with a zero, to keep the number from collapsing to just "23",
which obviously would be wrong.
230 (two sig-digs)
RULES FOR SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
1. All non-zero numbers ARE significant. The number 33.2 has THREE significant figures because all of the digits present are non-
zero.

2. Zeros between two non-zero digits ARE significant. 2051 has FOUR significant figures. The zero is between a 2 and a 5.

3. Leading zeros are NOT significant. They're nothing more than "place holders." The number 0.54 has only TWO significant
figures. 0.0032 also has TWO significant figures. All of the zeros are leading.

4. Trailing zeros to the right of the decimal ARE significant. There are FOUR significant figures in 92.00.

92.00 is different from 92: a scientist who measures 92.00 milliliters knows his value to the nearest 1/100th milliliter; meanwhile
his colleague who measured 92 milliliters only knows his value to the nearest 1 milliliter. It's important to understand that "zero"
does not mean "nothing." Zero denotes actual information, just like any other number. You cannot tag on zeros that aren't
certain to belong there.

5. Trailing zeros in a whole number with the decimal shown ARE significant. Placing a decimal at the end of a number is usually
not done. By convention, however, this decimal indicates a significant zero. For example, "540." indicates that the trailing zero IS
significant; there are THREE significant figures in this value.

6. Trailing zeros in a whole number with no decimal shown are NOT significant. Writing just "540" indicates that the zero is NOT
significant, and there are only TWO significant figures in this value.
7. Exact numbers have an INFINITE number of significant figures. This rule applies to numbers that are definitions. For example,
1 meter = 1.00 meters = 1.0000 meters =
1.0000000000000000000 meters, etc.

So now back to the example posed in the Rounding Tutorial: Round 1000.3 to four significant figures. 1000.3 has five significant
figures (the zeros are between non-zero digits 1 and 3, so by rule 2 above, they are significant.) We need to drop the final 3, and
since 3 < 5, we leave the last zero alone. so 1000. is our four-significant-figure answer. (from rules 5 and 6, we see that in order
for the trailing zeros to "count" as significant, they must be followed by a decimal. Writing just "1000" would give us only one
significant figure.)

8. For a number in scientific notation: N x 10x, all digits comprising N ARE significant by the first 6 rules; "10" and "x" are NOT
significant. 5.02 x 104 has THREE significant figures: "5.02." "10 and "4" are not significant.

Rule 8 provides the opportunity to change the number of significant figures in a value by manipulating its form. For example,
let's try writing 1100 with THREE significant figures. By rule 6, 1100 has TWO significant figures; its two trailing zeros are not
significant. If we add a decimal to the end, we have 1100., with FOUR significant figures (by rule 5.) But by writing it in scientific
notation: 1.10 x 103, we create a THREE-significant-figure value.