Today what is the fascinating about Physics?

Question

Most Physics today concentrate on laser or software?

Answer 1

No i think most of physics today is concerned about finding the dark matter or the "theory of everything".

Answer 2

I'm with Al...string/M theory is highly suspect. It is not so elegant mathematics looking for some physics. I say "not so elegant" because perturbation theory, which is what string theorists use, is about chopping off parts of an equation that can't be solved just to make the equation solvable. And that, of course, makes the solution of a chopped off equation highly suspect.

But having said that, the most fascinating thing about physics to my way of thinking is how little it tells us about how things in our physical world work. It tells us what happens under certain circumstances, but not how it happens.

For example, F = GmM/R^2 (where the G is the Big G Al talks about). This equation describes the gravitational force between two masses (m and M) that are R distance apart at their centers. But the equation only tells what happens when two masses act on each other, it does not tell us how those two masses attract each other from a distance R. In other words, it fails to tell us the mechanisms that reach out over distance between to the two masses and pull them towards each other.

This what rather than how gets even worse with quantum physics. There is no explanation as to how quanta jitter from place to place and (maybe) time to time. The probability density functions associated with position and momentum of quanta only tell us (quite accurately) what happens.

So that's what fascinates me most about physics...it's inability to explain how things work.

Answer 3

what is not?? Physics is to seek the ultimate truth today or yesterday or tommorow. Thats the goal. Software help physicist solve load of problems. I dont quite get your question though. Lasers is a small field in physcis and sofrwares aid us. Actually todays physics concentrate on many branches. nanothechnology, cosmology, and many other fields. So its not so limited. So todays physics is really fascinating and the topics are unlimited.

Answer 4

All of physical theory arises from three fundamental constants: Lightspeed, c, enforces maximum information transfer rate. Newton's constant, Big G, scales gravitation. Planck's constant, h, enforces uncertainty in measurement; h-bar is thefundamental unit of action.

General Relativity has c=c, G=G, and *h=0*.
Quantum field theory has c=c, *G=0*, and h=h.
String theory has c=c, G=G, and h=h. String theory has at least 10^1000 acceptable vacuum solutions (the "landscape") and zero testable predictions. String theory is crap.

Where hides the problem in physics?

Metric gravitation *postulates* the Equivalence Principle: All local bodies vacuum free fall identically regardless of chemical composition and mass distribution. Folks have searched for an EP exception for 420+ years,

http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/lajos.htm#b1

A neutron star core might be strange matter, pion condensate, lambda hyperon, delta isobar, or free quark matter. Gravitationally hyper-bound (~30% of dissocaited rest mass), hyper-spinning (~20% of lightspeed at equator), hyper-magnetic (10^8 tesla), hyper-dense (4-9x10^14 g/cm^3), superconducting neutronium falls consistent with the EP.

Nobody knows if a (metaphoric) left shoe and right shoe obey the EP. Affine, teleparallel, and noncommutative gravitation theories - that wholly contain GR - say they will not. Somebody should look.

http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/qz4.pdf
technicalities
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/lajos.htm#a2
fast, simple experiment.

Other than that,

http://nanoscale.blogspot.com/2007/06/grand-challenges.html