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Physics II

Modern physics
PBL 3

Date of delivery: 31/05/22

Mario Alberto Esparza Buenrostro 2906

Sofia Marina Gomez Astudillo 2913
Patricia Isabel López Cañas 2920
Cesar Ruben Martinez 2923
Daniela Padilla Salceda 2930
Luis Felipe Ramirez Torres 2931
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Physics II
Introduction:

Modern physics are all the physics branches that originated from the early 20th century onwards. In

the modern days, Scientifics had to stop and think for a moment about all the microscopic entities,

understanding their behavior and composition. Also, specialists have to analyze all the matter in

movement that goes to greater speeds than the one we are used to in classical physics. Only in these

cases, scholars had to change the classical physics and mechanics law, thus making it more

accurate to all the cases that are needed to observe. One of the staples of Modern Physics is Albert

Einstein, whom all theories and researches lead us to know more about that unknown world. All these

new knowledge is important due to the fact that it might determine how we are heading towards as a

society, and how we use all these theories into something plausible for evolving as a species.

Theory of relativity

Einstein predicted and stated in 1905 that space and time are relative, that they form a constant

called spacetime, and that the mass of objects causes spacetime to curve. This theory was idealized

due to the need of understanding the electrodynamic of matter in movement.

General relativity states that gravity is not a force (Newton), but a curvature of space-time. Wheler

summarized this important thesis in the famous sentence “space-time tells matter how to move;

matter tells spacetime how to curve.

If someone on the railroad raises and lowers their hand and measures on the clock how long it took

them to perform that action, they will see that it is not the same if they do it once that there is no

movement, for example on a pedestrian bridge. . According to Einstein's theory, age depends on the

speed of the observer.

This theory depends on the point of view of what perception of reality is.
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Physics II

Quantum physics

Quantum physics is a branch of science that studies the characteristics, behaviors, and interaction of

particles at an atomic and subatomic level. In other words, you can say it is the study of the tiny

world. The word quantum is used, since in Latin the word “cuantum” means secret portion or quantity.

One of the first scientists who came up with a primitive idea of quantum physics was Max Planck,

who formulated the theory of a small amount of electromagnetic energy which is emitted or absorbed

by its interaction with matter. Thanks to these concepts Planck proposed, quantum physics became a

thing, opening a new tiny world full of atoms and atomic nucleus. Here in quantum physics, particles

have wavelike properties, and we use the Schrodinger equation to show these waves work.

Heisenberg also formulated a version of quantum mechanics that made use of matrix mechanics.

One of the most relevant researchers, Paul Dirac, showed that Heisenberg’s and Schrodinger’s

versions of quantum mechanics were equivalent.

The development of quantum physics has shown us that there is not a limit that an electron will not be

able to achieve. Thanks to quantum mechanics we can now make sense of smaller things in nature

like protons, neutrons and electrons. Quantum mechanics help us understand big things, such as the

whole universe and its components. It also helps explain chemistry, physics, and technology.

Actually, in recent years it has helped in the design of computers.

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Physics II
Nuclear physics

Nuclear physics is a very wide branch of physics that specializes in studying the nucleus of atoms, as

well as its interactions. E= mc*2, while studying relativity, Einstein developed this formula to state that

mass and energy are equivalent and can be converted into one another. Two of the four fundamental

forces are going to be well represented in this field. The first one being transmutation (an element that

can transform into another completely different element) and the second one being radioactive decay

which has been studied with the purpose of understanding and controlling the enormous amount of

energy contained inside atoms. In order to achieve a more efficient understanding, we have to go

back to the nucleus of the atom, which is made by protons and neutrons. Collectively we can name

them nucleons. The quantity of these nucleons an atom has will determine the element the atom

consists of, this property is the base of how we understand the building blocks of matter and the world

as we know it. All of this can be measured with the mass number (protons+neutrons) and the atomic

number (number of protons). This information is essential for deeper understanding because nuclear

interactions function due to mass-energy conversions. A nucleus is stable when it is not capable of

being transformed into a different configuration without an external source of energy. On the other

hand, when the nuclei is unstable, it can be broken down into a more stable state while releasing

energetic particles. This is known as Radioactivity. There are three types of decay, Alpha, Beta, and

Gamma that can all be explained in a very extensive manner, but basically they are mass-energy

interactions where elements can either transmute or just release high amounts of energy. There are

several daily life applications for this field of study, radioactivity is literally present everywhere, you

can find nuclear physics in healthcare (cancer treatments), security (smoke detectors), archaeology

(date tracing), and of course; weapons (atomic bombs).

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Physics II
String theory

Throughout history, scientists have been trying to find a way to explain how our universe and world

were made. And thanks to that, they’ve developed different theories to prove their point. In other

words, they are trying to find the “theory of everything” to explain all the fundamental interactions and

structure of nature with different theories. One of them is the String Theory.

But, what is string theory? We can picture an electron as one of the fundamental particles of the

universe and the only thing it can do is move, but, does it have an internal structure?

That is what the string theory is about. It states that all of the different subatomic particles of the

universe aren’t just points without any dimension as stated in the Standard Mode, but they are strings

with a dimension.

And as we know, strings can do more than just moving, they can oscillate in different ways, following

frequencies and patterns determined by the multidimensional space they are moving in, this would

explain why we can’t see them: when something oscillates in a certain way and from a long distance

its shape cannot be perceived, meaning that, we are seeing an electron, but if it oscillates differently,

we now see a quark or a photon.

In 1974 Joel Scherk and John Henry Schwarz published an article where they showed a theory based

on unidimensional objects or strings instead of punctual particles that could describe the gravitational

force. Even though they didn’t receive that much attention until 10 years after the first Superstring

Revolution occurred in 1984.

Even though this theory is still under development, and until today there is no experimental evidence

that can prove it, we are unable to make definite decisions and still have much more to discover. But,

if the string theory were correct, the entire world would be made up of strings.
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Physics II
Subatomic particles

Subatomic particles are way smaller than a normal atom, they are vital for us because all matter is

composed of these particles. The smallest particles we know are called Quarks. Subatomic particles

use four fundamental forces to stick within the atom, these forces are : gravity, electromagnetic force,

strong force and weak force. Mainly, they include electrons, protons and neutrons, but there's more

than 200 types of particles which are mostly unstable.

The field of Subatomic particles has grown a lot as we study more about high-energy collisions of

particles.

In the beginning of the 20th century, electrons, protons and neutrons were thought to be the only

Subatomic particles. They thought that these particles couldn't break down into smaller ones, but now

we know that there are a lot more, which can be combined to make more. The electron was the first

subatomic molecule to be discovered by J. Thompson. They are negatively charged and it is

measured in -1.602*10-19 Coulombs. Protons were discovered by Ernest Rutherford; they have a

positive charge and can be made by eliminating an electron of a hydrogen atom. The neutrons were

discovered by James Chadwick, he discovered that its charge is neither negative nor positive. When

neutrons join with protons, they create de nucleons.

Subatomic particles are classified into composite or elementary atoms, their differences are that

composites are made of smaller particles and the elementary cannot be broken down into smaller

ones. Electrons are elementary atoms, while protons and neutrons are composites.
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Physics II
Conclusion

At first glance, we might think that these modern physics might obscure and make classical physics

obsolete, but we have to take into consideration that all these theories would not be possible without

all the formulas and discoveries made by physicians from all the ages. It will be exciting to see all

these advancements made by the scientific community being put into use for making a better world.

The purpose of modern physics is to find new laws of conservations of matter to get a better

understanding of our surroundings. We already have a little taste of the future thanks to quantum

computers; it is said that they are going to revolutionize the system industry and make binary

computers obsolete. Therefore, with the understanding of all these principles might

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Compañía Editorial Continental.