Why Study Physics

Because it is enthralling,

Because it is interesting,

Because it is challenging,

Because it helps understanding the universe,

Because it unfolds mysteries of the universe,

Because it is philosophical,

It is not necessary that one should study physics to become a subject matter expert instead should go for studying it for one’s personal interest. One needs not to be involved in deducing complex mathematical calculations to know Physics, rather basic understanding is quite enough.

As long as one studies Physics and its laws, he or she will definitely fall in love with it and become accustomed to it. The journey can be started with simple pieces of work by the great teacher of Physics, Richard P. Feynman, namely “Six easy pieces” as well as “Six not so easy pieces”. These books have been written in simple language for general people who have an affinity to understand Physics and it’s basic laws. The author tried to infuse what actually Physics is all about instead of doing complex mathematical calculation to prove Physical laws. The journey once started will never stop and readers get addicted to the beauty of Physics.

There are so many books written by the Physicists to formalize the basics of Physics. A brief history of time by Stephan Hawking, Physics of the Impossible and Physics of the Future by Michio Kako, Until the end of Time and The Hidden Reality by Brian Greene, For the love of Physics (Auto-biography) by Walter Lewin to name a few.

A brief history of time written by the great scientist has been a bestseller quite for some time. He meticulously narrated the history of the universe along with its development phases, birth of stars, black hole and etc. In Physics of the Impossible, Michio Kako has done an in depth analysis to make understand Physics behind the natural phenomena that seems impossible like Force Field, Teleportation, Invisibility, Time travel, Parallel Universe. He divided the impossible phenomena in three categories:

a) Impossibilities that were seemed impossible two or three decades ago but now are possible like Force Field, Teleportation, Invisibility.

b) Impossibilities that seem impossible now but may become reality in near future like the phenomena of Time travel, Faster than light and Existence of Parallel Universe.

c) Impossibilities that seem impossible now and will remain impossible probably in the future as well like Perpetual Motion Machine, Precognition.

Physics gives us a different perspective of viewing things around us. It infuses a sense of critical thinking and we start analyzing things in that way that how and why certain phenomena is happening or a system is working. This led towards finding the solution of a problem more quickly. Physicists are always supposed to be problem solvers. Problem solving is a skill that is learnt and perfected over the period of time with critical and analytical thinking. This is one of the reasons that the world moved towards a multi-disciplinary approach of education leaving behind a unilateral approach. Studying Physics tops the list. A research study shows that physicists have higher average IQ levels among others in general.

Physics is enthralling and challenging. Think of the moments when mysteries of the universe got unfold with Einstein that time is not absolute and that speed of light is the universal constant.  Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory paved the way to find that light is actually an electromagnetic wave and doesn’t require any material medium for propagation. How joyful and thrilling moments they were. These eureka moments have completely changed our understanding of the universe afterwards. The pace of the development of the world has fastened on each passing day. It touched every aspect of our lives and made it faster, safer and luxurious.

With the advent of Quantum Physics, a new whole world gets discovered in parallel with the macroscopic world. This new world has its own new physical laws (Duality of wave-particle, Uncertainty Principle, Quantum Entanglement, Photon etc) since previous laws were not sufficient enough to define them. Laws of quantum physics tell that there is no concept of absolute rest. Everything in the universe is in motion (vibration). This very concept makes Physics the mother of all sciences. At microscopic level, everything is included in physics. This is because every phenomena is the result of movement of particles in one or another way that also includes biological and chemical phenomena.

It is not exaggeration to say that GOD rules through Physics.

In a nutshell, I must say that study of physics makes us smarter, solution providers and inculcate a habit of thinking differently that is uncommon.