It’s a given fact that science classes have made many of our lives a living nightmare while we were in school. Be it the difficult process of balancing complex chemical equations or solving undecipherable calculus problems, science has never left a good impression. However, when you read all about the different topics, theories, and principles outside the school environment, you may actually like them and understand how it works in our daily lives.
Here are some of the interesting topics and principles that you might like:
Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR)
Electromagnetic radiation, as you may already know, is a type of energy that exists in many forms. We encounter electromagnetic waves on a daily basis. We even emit infrared rays ourselves, a discovery that we made use of when we created night vision. There are different types of radiation that exist on the electromagnetic spectrum and most of them are invisible; however, if you click here, you will find that there are tools like spectrometers, which helps us see all the variations of electromagnetic waves. The different types start with the long wavelengths of the invisible radio waves, microwaves, and infrared. Next on the spectrum, there is the visible light which is basically all we can see with the naked eye. Finally, there are the short wavelengths of Ultraviolet rays, X-rays, and Gamma rays, which, suffice to say, are dangerous when we are exposed to them for a long time.
Gravity
When thinking about gravity, the first thing that probably will come to mind is the apple that fell on Newton’s head. Because of this, Newton became the first to attempt to explain the mysterious force that moves everything. He stated that there is a gravitational force between objects of mass that is inversely proportional to the square distance between their centers. He also claimed that this works for all objects in the universe, which was later proven right. He revolutionized the idea of gravity in the first place and his law, despite being centuries old, is still accurate to this day.
Archimedes’ Principle
When no one knew how to explain how things floated in the water, the Greek mathematician and inventor, Archimedes, put all the minds of his Greek people at rest. His law states that anything that is partially or entirely submerged in a liquid will be affected by an upward force that is called buoyant force. This is equivalent to the weight of the liquid moved or displaced by the object. The magnitude of the buoyant force is also equivalent to the force affected by the weight of the object in the opposite direction. One can only imagine what Archimedes’s would think to learn about modern discoveries like the rarest elements on the periodic chart.
Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle
Before the iconic appearance of the Heisenberg from Breaking Bad, there was another Heisenberg, who put forward the uncertainty principle. This principle is pretty easy to understand. The tricky part is understanding in what circumstances can this principle take effect. Heisenberg postulates that it is physically impossible to pinpoint both the position of an object and its momentum at the same time. This may sound absurd, as we can easily do that with any object we see in the street; however, this principle only works with subatomic particles, which can easily obtain the characteristics of both particles and waves. Therefore, when you measure its momentum, you would be ignoring its particle properties and vice versa.
Evolution
This theory, as we all know, was put forward by Charles Darwin. It states that organisms change their constitution over time, whether in physical or behavioral traits in order to adapt to the new environment, survive the changes, and have more offspring. Some people even find the expression “survival of the fittest” best describes this theory, though the theory does not by any means indicate the fitness of living things, but their ability to adapt and reproduce. Natural selection is also related to the evolution theory, as it also describes that species can change entirely, to create a whole new species, which is known as “macroevolution”. The only difference between the evolution theory and natural selection is that the latter occurs due to a random genetic change, while the former are changes that happened due to changes in the behavior of a species.
Knowing some of these scientific concepts can change our view of life. Scientific theories and principles are put forward by people to represent a bigger idea that can shift the whole world’s view of what we know. So, even if you didn’t like it back in school, scientific principles shaped that world that we live in today and helped us live better lives than we used for centuries ago.