National Institute of Physics

Physics 10
Draw FOUR (4) lines

to connect all nine dots below

WITHOUT LIFTING YOUR PEN.

Initial thoughts
What is science?
What is physics? X

Johnrob Y. Bantang

johnrob.bantang@upd.edu.ph
Instrumentation Physics Laboratory Group
National Institute of Physics
College of Science
University of the Philippines, Diliman
Quezon City 1101

Visitors from Twilo Football Game Challenging life on Earth for Twiloans

Imagine an intelligent race of beings from

the planet Twilo. 



They look more or less like us, they talk like
us. They are interested in understanding
everything human.

Inclusive of interests…

Source: Leon Lederman, The God Particle

5 6 7

Making Sense The missing ball

And though the rules might all be, in a

limited way, correct, none would really
capture the essence of the game.
Rules of game (disallowed moves)

Some use classification techniques:

- Clothing -> 2 teams

Player movements -> “geographical territories”

Different players display different motions

Named various positions

Charts, tables, etc -> great discovery: Symmetry

More work -> tables, scores, complicated rules

"Let's postulate," one ventures nervously,

Crowd response vs. player density -> energy concept

"the existence of an invisible ball."

9 10
 sharing

www.stonybrook.edu

www.historyguide.org

persons
states

The physical Universe [link].

undsci.berkeley.edu
communities

htwins.net/scale2/
collaborating
The Loyola Science Center - Science as a Human Endeavor

Science
www.stonybrook.edu

asking
investigating

human endeavor
Let: “Man” = label for human being
Philosophy of Science
Man is hardwired
What is reality? What is true about reality?
[Ontology]
MAN
to seek happiness
human being
How do we know things? [Epistemology]
external “world” 08 July 2013

senses

Relation of science

Human being is an

to man as a human being and as a intellectual

self-conscious (“soul”)
society. animal
with biologicalcaused
life
into being (into “reality” / actuality)
formed/created

aspires to attain truth

with the capacity to know truth.
14
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/opinion/sunday/a-formula-for-happiness.html?_r=0

perception / understanding —> term = clear or ambiguous / clarity perception / understanding —> term = clear or ambiguous / clarity
judgement —> proposition = true or false / truthfulness judgement —> proposition = true or false / truthfulness
reason —> argument = valid or invalid / validity reason —> argument = valid or invalid / validity

Judgement = Proposition
“A judgment is said to be true when it conforms to the external reality” (declarative sentence)

Truth
The best possible happiness
[Thomas Aquinas] object <—> reality
“hypothesis” True Evident From known truths

of Man is knowing truth.

1. Observation
2. Reasoning
deductive

inductive

Science the adequation of thing and intellect False Not Evident Self-evident
e.g. by definition
as

no
“c av m

pe

in
on ing en
“h om

Reference: Summa of the Summa (edited by Peter Kreeft / Ignatius Press)

ct

te
fo a su
“c

lle
of
rm de ra

ct
re
ity qu tio

,n

Experimentation or Naturalistic
a

OBSERVATION of nature:
”; at n”

lit

o
y

e

tru

Controlled environment Direct observation

th
ba
si
s”

Measurement is crucial
uncertainty (normalcy)
;

randomness (p-value)
 Authoritative truth vs. democratic truth

DATA
Local relativism, global absolutism.

observable instances of phenomena of reality

my truth
truth’
There is

1.Data gathering

Everything at least on

intellect
2.Curation
e

The expert (the “observer”) is indispensable

absolute

i’m right
3.Data analysis in the extraction of information from data. truth’’
? In physics, is the “observer” required to have intellect to affect the observed?
Relativism in local
is relative.
Information truth.
)
252 ELECTROMAGNETISM AND RELATIVITY reality
s” of
adow Absolutism in global
ts (“sh
effec
a Rayleigh–Taylor instability
caused by two mixing fluids
portion
if theof
masstruth discerned
of the star from
is at least several timesdata by
the mass theSun,
of our intellect
when the
Truth
nuclear fuel is gone, it is believed that the star will collapse to form a black
cause-effect correct
hole. Note, as seen from the formula for the Schwarzchild radius obtained
above, that the radius of a black hole is directly proportional to the mass (M);
hence the radius of a black hole with mass 10X that of the Sun would
| km. This is still very small, for such a large mass! data
intellect
be 30 We need to differentiate:
i’m correct
> Fact / Data evidences of truth.
5. Unified Field Theories
truth
General relativity indicates that the properties of space (and time) are depen- > Information cause <—> effect
judgement

dent on gravitational forces and the presence of matter. The properties of space-
argument
info
time are determined by light rays, which we have seen depend on electromagnetic
Maximum Intensity Projectionfields. Einstein felt that these electromagnetic fields should also modify the cur-
(MIP) of a wholebody

> Opinion
positron emission tomography (PET)
vature of space, and he proceeded to try to incorporate electromagnetic forces
Topographic scan of a glass surface
by an Atomic force microscope.
Information = Data + Intellect
into general relativity to obtain what became known as a unified-field theory.
images: wikipedia.org 21
Although Einstein and others made considerable progress in this direction, it is
now clear that afinalunderstanding of the basic forces in nature requires one to
incorporate the basic ideas of quantum mechanics. These ideas will be presented
in the next two chapters, and we will return to the subject of unifiedfieldtheories
Facts are relative; Laws are absolute later. Implied principles in the Sciences
1

F. INFLUENCE OF RELATIVITY THEORY

1. There is order in this Universe. This order can be known
ON PHILOSOPHY, LITERATURE , AND A R T
and understood resulting to good sciences.

The theory of relativity has had a significant impact on philosophy and liter-
ature and the visual arts. In some respects, it has been used to validate or support
2. Cause precedes* effect.
*not necessary temporal

effect implies existence of cause

ideas that were developed anyway; in other respects it has inspired new modes
of thought, although not always from a correct understanding of the theory. The
3. Truth begets truth.

idea of frame of reference in physics has been transferred to philosophy and

morality as defining basic viewpoints and outlooks. Thus the physical concept of 4. Reality is an effect. Then there must be causes:
no absolute frame of reference has suggested to some individuals moral relativ-
2
agent
ism, without consideration of the idea of invariant quantities, which is really an
essential component of the theory of relativity. 1 4
At the same time that the theory of relativity was being developed, new modes
of expression were being developed in the arts and literature. Some of the Cubist
idea 3
end (purpose)
painters were familiar in some fashion with the relativity theory and incorporated matter
and interpreted its themes in their work. Poets such as William Carlos Williams
and Archibald MacLeish celebrated both relativity and Einstein, and limericks
Moral relativism is incompatible

were composed about the Stein family (Gertrude, Ep-, and Ein-) and relativistic
time travel. Vladimir Nabokov and William Faulkner used relativistic concepts
2

efficient
with Einstein’s relativity theory.
metaphorically. The role of Einstein as a Muse for the arts and literature is dis- 1
formal
4
cussed in a book by Friedman and Donley, listed in the references for this chapter.
final
material
3

an bpieiDerg
Bryon D. Anderson Relativity:

“Light is absolute, it’s straight and constant.” 5. The highest truths are those that do not change.
23 24