is there an upper limit to physics?

Question

The universe is finite, very big but still finite with only 7 known forces and 120+ elements, all composed of the same stuff just with more neutrons and electrons then the others. Is there a point where psychics will be like okay we have found everything there is. Like say 40 years after the unified field theroy, will physics have found verythin that needs to be explained. will new formulas need to be developed.

I am sure there will need to be refinement of current formulas to make them quicker to compute but will NEW fields come into existence that need totally new and unknown laws to work with. I think there is a point, maybe 200 years from now when we will have perfected 99.9% of the laws of the universe. what happens after that?

sorry I know 4 fundemental forces what i meant was 7 measurable effects, like mass, volts, magnatism ect. sorry about that

Answer 1

hmm good question. I think there is both limits and limitlessness. I believe we will always discover a new way to work with what we have and simplify things but eventually I believe the universe is finite according to current physics. It's huge massively so but still finite. I think once we have multi dimensional physics down, and a unified theory to explain evefrything we shoul dknow everything there is, or else it's not a true unified theory. And because of non locality of laws we don't need ot explore the universe we find out laws here at home. But that is what i think anyways, little of coloumn a little of coloumn b

Answer 2

Actually, a lot of physicists are theorizing today that while the universe is infinite, there's something of a multiverse that is actually infinite. In the 11th dimension of string theory, there are all kinds of "membranes" sort of floating around, and our entire universe is one of those membranes.

Plus, every time anyone has ever found "the answer," ten more questions popped up. When we finally have a unified field theory, it will open up new avenues of research that we can't even imagine today. Not to mention the whole question of dark matter and dark energy. We have names for it and can see it's effects, but we have no idea what it really is. There are some who even say it doesn't exist, which would rewrite our fundamental understanding of how gravity works. On another note, a recent study suggested that universal constants like the speed of light have actually changed over time and aren't constants at all. Imagine the implications of that for physics!

Even if, 200 years from now, we've perfected 99.9% of the laws of what we then believe to be the universe, that remaining 0.1% will baffle us and trying to understand that 0.1% will completely change our definition of the universe (again).

Answer 3

I don't think so. The whole thing seems to be based on "forces", and we don't even have a good definition of what a force is.

Here's an example:
"In physics, a net force acting on a body causes that body to accelerate (i.e. to change its velocity). Force is a vector. The SI unit used to measure force is the newton."

Another:
" 'something' which can change the state of motion."

Sufficient to describe things today, but as our thinking about the universe changes by ways we can't control (religion, evolution whatever you believe in), our definitions of what we "see" will have to be overhauled as we understand things more deeply and more completely. And it won't be a single event. It will probably happen several times in the future.

Intellectually, we're all still like cavemen; persistently trying to find a better way sharpen a stone ax. Problem is, we just haven't realized yet how to melt that rock down and make a knife!

Answer 4

Physics is actually pretty lousy at explaining most of what goes on around you.

For instance, try using it to explain biology, music, philosophy, politics, economics, botany, linguistics... Need I go on.

Thinking of physics as a theory of everything is about as meaningful as saying everything is explained by God.

So there will always be areas of physics that are developing new concepts and new ideas, and there will be even more areas doing so outside physics.

And we are now where we were 100 years ago in some ways. Pretty good groundwork that we think applies across the board, but with the odd problem. Then it was the ultraviolet catastrophe. Now its gravity. The answer then turned out not to be a tweak to the existing theory (this is what string theorists are trying to do now) but the introduction of radical and unexpected concepts to produce quantum mechanics. So who knows what comes next?

Answer 5

Actually, there are only 4 fundamental forces. However, while the knowledge of physics will certainly continue approaching 100%, though we can never reach exactly 100% (it'd be an asymptote, if you remember from calculus), we will have an increasing amount of work to do to get the same advances in knowlege. And it's possible that some of the things we think today may turn out to be wrong. For example, there are some questions about Einstein's conception of space-time; not most of his work necessarily, but his description of what space-time actually is and how gravity appears with it.

Answer 6

In the 1800's patent clerks were committing suicide because all that could be known was known. That says something about what we think we know vs. what we really know.

There arent 7 forces there are only 4.

Godels incompleteness theorem says that we cant know everything for a "sufficiently complex system" and Im pretty sure physics qualifies as a "sufficiently complex system.

How do you know we wont be fighting world war 4 with sticks and stones in 200 years?

Answer 7

The universe is not finite according to the Begy atomic model.
Gravity is an outside force constantly pouring energy into this universe, The Big Bang has no beginning and is still in progress. At the edge of our universe objects travel at near the speed of light. Picture yourself in that area you could then see objects that were travelling BEYOND the speed of light relative to an observer on earth who would have no way of detecting them! or perhaps they would appear to be superdense bodies never quite reaching the speed of light.The universe only has limits due to are inability to sense what is beyond our limits!

Answer 8

We thought this two hundred years after Newton. Then suspicions happens that eventually led to Einsteinium Physics. Strictly from a historical view point, just when the theories of physics become stable, something happens that throws out all stability.

Answer 9

The speed of light, is constant. Anything faster just becomes more dense and covers same distance. only limit I can think of. Someone, probably you, who knows, will come up with all sorts of Mind Candy for physicist to figure out. Long time though, before they figure it all out, even with the UFT. (that MC Hawking is a Dopest Shiznit! Word!)

Answer 10

Maybe we will discover entirely new realms of existence with their own laws that we will spend even more centuries trying to decipher. Who knows what could happen 200 years from now?!