From learning the primitive trade of hunting to his capability to reach for the stars is a grand and glorious march of man all made possible by science. Modern and ultrahigh speed communication that splendidly shrinks the world in gargantuan proportion is for one traces its beginning to Maxwell’s momentous theoretical thesis on the existence of electromagnetic waves. For another, the once believed to be a thing of impossibility, space exploration, is a case of the magnificent triumph of Newton’s discovery of the natural law that governs the orderly flights of the planets. Combined with his laws of motion, the old science fiction of moon exploration became a reality when the Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969.Cited below are the laws of physics that changed and revolutionized mankind and our world.

The Principle of Mass-Energy Equivalence

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Matter and energy being of the same stuff is what the famous Einstein’s mass-energy equivalence is all about. Quantitatively, it states that there exists an enormous amount of energy associated to even the tiniest quantity of matter. Energy is equal to the product of the given mass multiplied by the square of the magnitude of velocity of light to be exact. Light travels at 300,000,000 meters per second and the square of it multiplied to even the tiniest amount of mass gives the no mean magnitude equivalent energy that can be derived from that amount of matter. This energy is harnessed through nuclear fission of unstable atoms such as uranium – 238. Nuclear fusion is yet another way of extracting energy from the nucleus of the atom but the process requires a container that can withstand temperature as high as that of the surface of the Sun. Materials needed to manufacture such a high temperature – tolerant container in order for nuclear fusion to be utilized remains to be discovered by current researchers in the field. So what has been at hand is nuclear fission. Many antagonists of Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity from where the equation was derived were at first reluctant at the existence of such incredible energy. However, it has become an established truth and affected mankind since the dropping of the two atomic bombs on Japan in 1945, ending the infamous World War Two. But this grim event in the history of world military conflict was deemed extremely inhuman, thus shortly after the war any suspicious acts that would possibly lead to the repeat of the immedicable Japan incident were vehemently denounced the world over, a crusade so strongly-supported by Albert Einstein himself and his cohorts. For good, many other humanitarian practical applications of the famous equation followed one after another. Today, much of large scale generation of electricity that powers the ever increasing demand of the swiftly growing world population is harnessed from that energy locked in the nucleus of the atom through energy transformation. The process called proton-proton chain by which hydrogen atoms in the inner region of the Sun is being converted into helium, giving off energy as one of the by products is nuclear fusion in nature. So, as far as modern science is concern, the central activity of our Sun and all the other countless stars that are scattered across the endless expanse of the universe is well understood in the light of this one grand law of physics.

Wave – Particle Duality of Matter

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In the context of classical physics, physical entities called waves and particles behave completely different. However, at the entrance of the 20th century, a phenomenon known as the blackbody radiation had quizzed the scientists, even the most prominent of continental Europe. They could not reconcile the anomalous behavior presented by the blackbody within the context of classical physics. But most of the leading physicists during which time believed that the available physics at their disposal was complete. So the problem went unsolved until the young professor in Max Planck of Germany led an ascetic life for a couple of months devoted to re-attack the problem. Until one day, while the tired Plank and his son had a pleasure walk, he told him, “Son I have discovered a physical law that will put me on the same pedestal where Isaac Newton is.” He did! Planck found the solution to the black body problem by defying what was mandated by classical physics. He claimed that light, behaving completely as wave as described by the old physics, behave as particle as well. This momentous event in the arduous history of science marked the beginning of modern physics. So his idea lingered in the scientific community, until a French history student caught sight of a paper about Max Planck discovery on the particle nature of light, Louie de Broglie, son of a royal French family asked his physicists brother while occupied working in a laboratory, “Wave behaving as particle, what about particle behaving as wave?” The older de Broglie did not budge, adding that it was ridiculous. As fate for science would have it, Louie de Broglie gave up history for physics and went on to finished a doctorate degree, writing his idea on wave-particle duality of matter for his dissertation. Alas! His panels graded his dissertation “idiot”. Nevertheless, one of the panelists considered sending the manuscript to Albert Einstein; interestingly, the creator of the famous special and general theory of relativity was swift to resend the thesis. “This is very interesting”, commented Einstein who was able to publish a paper using the very idea of the thesis itself. In France, de Broglie was eventually awarded the doctorate degree. Louie de Broglie became famous and won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1929 when his theory was experimentally verified by the two great American experimental physicists, Clinton Davisson and George Thompson when they succeeded at demonstrating the diffraction (a property attributed to wave only) of electrons, thus the confirmation of the wave nature of particles. For their towering experiment, Davisson and Thompson shared the Nobel Prize for Physics as well in 1937. This particle-wave duality became the central foundation of quantum mechanics, the physics that best describes the atomic behavior of matter. It has turned out to be controversial but whose applications continue to flourish. The transistor which has revolutionized and miniaturized electronic products has to be designed with quantum effects considered. Vacuum tubes, the predecessor of modern transistors made computers as large as a room while its modern version – transistors – make our laptops. The method of magnetic resonance imaging, also an invaluable tool in modern and well-equipped hospitals also employs quantum effects in its design. In addition, the very expensive electron microscope is a direct application of the wave characteristic of the electron .Its wavelength being many times shorter than light, the electron microscope can magnify specimens thousands of times than the magnifying capability of the traditional optical microscope. Currently, quantum mechanics is well into many practical applications in the field of semi-conductor physics which has a lot of bearing on our modern and sophisticated lifestyle.

Electromagnetic Induction: Faraday’s Law

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Dating back to the time of the glory that was Greece, the electrical nature of matter has already been known to mankind, but in no large scale. Time forwarded to the mid 19th century, a self – taught but a scientist of no mean talent hypothesized that if a current-carrying conductor generates magnetism as earlier discovered by the Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted, the opposite might be as well true. Meaning, magnetism can possibly generate electricity. Being a man of extreme curiosity, the young Faraday, started designing his experimental set -up to test his idea. He moved a magnet in and out a coil of wire that was connected to a device that detects the slightest amount of electric current; lo and behold! There was electricity. He was right. He went on to reverse the set-up, by putting the magnet at rest while the coil was set into motion, still the effect was a complete duplicate of the former. Now known as Faraday’s Law which is otherwise known as the law of electromagnetic induction, it states that a changing magnetic flux (produced by moving the magnet or the coil) induced an electromotive force – the factor that moves the electrical charges, thus the emergence of the electric current – across the circuit. The elated Faraday subsequently presented his exciting discovery to the now defunct but once world renowned scientific community – the Royal Society of London. His audience of prominent scientists of England was impressed, but “What’s the use of your discovery Mr. Faraday?” They inquired. “What’s the use of the new born baby?” Faraday replied meekly. Indeed for many years, electromagnetic induction seemed nothing, except for being an exciting laboratory piece of curiosity. But id did not take long for the topnotch inventors, like Thomas Alva Edison and Nikola Tesla of the United States to cross the need for an unprecedented huge amount of electricity. The answer was simply to duplicate Michael Faraday’s generator by enlarging the prototype apparatus, giving birth to the age of electricity, and dramatically revolutionized the lives of mankind throughout the world. Since then, electricity has provided humanity the quickest and widest stride to industrial, social and, even cultural civilization. And it seems that this modern and advanced civilization that we built for centuries would collapse in a day without the services of electricity.

Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation and Three Laws of Motion

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Even if we allow time get flashed back to the most distant antiquity, man as a thinking animal has already been contemplating the stars, the moon and the planets. Every time we beam our eyes to the encompassing heaven, we are left pondering the mysterious and in complete abandon as we allow our wildest imagination to plunge into the transcendental universe. However, anything about the firmament is self-evidently a Herculean endeavor, thus the wreckage of many more of centuries before mankind was able to advance in his gargantuan quest to understand the heavens. The momentous step was accomplished by Sir Isaac Newton of England in the latter part of the 17th century when he was able to unlock the natural laws that decide the motion of the planets. Now bearing his name, Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation and Newton’s Three Laws of Motions have become the primary tools of physicists, astronomers and cosmologists in bringing to light many erstwhile profound and unknown facts. With these scientific tools now in the pocket of the scientist, such planetary data as masses, densities, sizes, positions, planet-to-Sun distances to the amazingly precise prediction of tides and eclipses have been acquired. Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation states that every particle in the universe attracts with each other with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them, while Newton’s Three Laws of Motions states that…

1.) 1st law (Law of Inertia): A body will remain at rest if it is at rest or remain in motion if it is in motion along a straight line unless it is acted by an unbalanced external force.

2.) 2nd Law (Law of acceleration): The acceleration of a body is directly proportional to the unbalanced external force applied on it and inversely proportional to its mass.

3.) 3rd Law (Law of action reaction): If two particles interact, the force exerted by the first particle on the second particle (called the action force) is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the force exerted by the second particle on the first particle (called the reaction force).

Basic or advance, the first law is the foundation of civil engineering, making our towering skyscrapers that race to the skies, and spectacular bridges that connect oceans a tribute to this physical law, while all these three together with the laws of gravitation contribute in the triumph of space exploration. And to tower all, the status of mankind has been so greatly altered by this scientific laws when we successfully landed on the moon in 1969, courtesy of Edwin Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins of the United States of America. Armstrong, the first man to step on the dusty and rocky surface of the moon, declared his now famous line, “It’s one small step for a man, but a giant leap for mankind.” Yes, our continuing probe of the moon to the most remote part of the solar system and probably beyond is made possible because of our knowledge of Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation and his grand Three Laws of Motion. “Nature and Nature laws lay hid in night. God said: Let Newton be!”, and all was light.” The great poet Alexander Pope once wrote of Newton.

Maxwell’s Equations

If Newton’s laws of motion are to mechanics, Maxwell’s equations are to electromagnetism, the science that unifies magnetism and electricity. One of the predictions of Maxwell’s equations is the existence of electromagnetic waves, including visible light, radio wave, microwave, x-rays, infrared, ultraviolet and gamma rays. Overtime, this extremely useful discovery found many practical applications that impacted our world and our lives. The German scientist Heinrich Hertz used radio wave for the first time to transmit messages across his laboratory. And in the ensuing years, Marconi Guglielmo, an Italian Electrical Engineer succeeded at transmitting messages across the Atlantic, giving birth to the age of rapid and intercontinental communication. Our modern radios, televisions, cellular phones and, yes, the Internet are a means of messages and data transfer that propagates through cyberspace at the speed of light. Electromagnetic waves have made all these splendid fragments of technological civilization possible. On the other hand, x-rays, infrared, and the microwave have been practically applied in many ways, making the lives of mankind more comfortable. The microwave for instance has made our cooking a lot easier since the discovery of the microwave oven, while X-rays has been extending human lives for having it as one of the diagnostic tools that is of utmost importance in the field of health sciences

Science is so grand an achievement of man. It has extended our lives and brought us to the moon, and beyond and we don’t know for sure as to how it would carry us far. Science is certainly the rise of man, and we can only hope that it does not become the downfall of humanity. If it ever comes closed to happening, it’s the man that’s certainly at fault, not his science.