History of Science and Math Stack Exchange
History of Science and Math Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [physics]

For questions about the scientific discipline that concerns itself with analysing the laws of nature in full generality

If the concerned question is about a more specific area of Physics (such as , , etc.), this tag should be used along with the tag of that specific area of Physics. Using this tag along with and/or should also be considered.

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Did physicists around 1900 really believe they were close to "figuring it all out"?

I've encountered the claim that around the end of the 19th century, physicists believed that their understanding of the physical world was close to being complete. One example of this claim can be found in Wikipedia's article on History of physics…
Ofri Raviv
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How soon after or before the development of nuclear applications was waste disposal considered?

Nuclear applications—be it in the form of electricity production, weapon creation, etc.—inevitably involves radioactive waste. When was it realized that there might be a need for a specialized waste disposal process? How does this date compare to…
BMS
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Did most or just few physicists think in 1900 that there was nothing important left to discover?

For example, the whole microscopic world was unknown - isn't that a fundamental problem even bigger than the "two clouds" to solve? They could regard atoms, electrons and other discovered particles as the basic building blocks of the universe, but…
jw_
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How did Newton explain his interference rings without wave optics?

Nowadays we know it is a consequence of the wave property of light. But ironically it was discovered by Newton who held the particle point-of-view of light. So how did he explain his discovery?
J.Bates
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Why didn't Lorentz conclude that no object can go faster than light?

Based on Lorentz factor $\gamma = \frac{1}{\sqrt {1-\frac{v^2}{c^2}}}$ it is easy to see $v < c$ since otherwise $\gamma$ would be either undefined or a complex number, which is non-physical. Also, as far as I understand this equation was known…
Rob
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Cavendish Laboratories Photo, 1939

So this photo of the Cavendish Laboratory is from 1939, and I was wondering if anyone knew any more about who was in the photo. (Click to enlarge) From notes I've been given, I believe the front row is: DE Lea?; Unknown; ME Oliphant; Norman…
Savara
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9
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What would have been the popular textbook to learn mechanics in the 19 th century?

If you were a student of physics of let's say between 14-20 years old, what textbook would you be using to learn physics from ?
copper
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What is the history of electric current and resistance?

Thomas Kuhn writes in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Part of what the acceptance of Ohm’s Law demanded was a redefinition of both ‘current’ and ‘resistance’; if those terms had continued to mean what they had meant before, Ohm’s Law could…
Christian
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7
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When were fictitious forces introduced

Some problems in mechanics are simplified by considering the action of "fictitious forces". These appear in accelerated frames, such as circular movements. When were these first considered so? Did Newton himself deal with these types of problems?
Mark Fantini
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Galileo's Discussion of Uniform Motion

Can someone help me here? the language is archaic. This is (translation of) Galileo If two particles carried at a uniform rate, the ratio of their speeds will be the product of the ratio of the distances traversed The inveerse ratio of the…
john mangual
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Who invented the concepts of potential and kinetic energy?

Who invented potential and kinetic energy ? Was it Newton ? Or someone else ? I have the impression Newton used those ideas but they already existed.
mick
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What are the major flaws of the “caloric” theory of heat?

I was reading about the history of thermodynamics and came across Lavoisier's idea of heat. He proposed that heat was a fluid. I am curious to know what are the major drawbacks of this theory. I know that if heat is fluid then it must have mass and…
Student
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Who introduced the creation and annihilation operators for the harmonic oscillator?

Or who first solved the harmonic oscillator in the algebraic method?
John
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Equivalence principle before Einstein

In a German interview some physicists were asked, what they would ask Einstein, if he were alive today. One of them wanted to know how Einstein came up with the idea of the equivalence principle, that inertial mass is the same as gravitational mass.…
Maxim
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Did old Crookes Radiometers ever have a pair of terminals?

This is a question about old physics lab equipment. This and this question led to the question in SciFi SE Crookes Radiometer at the end of a telescope in old movie scene, something about a comet? which led to the image below. Of course one does not…
uhoh
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