Why is Theoretical Physics Important?

Question

Please be as specific as you can.

Answer 1

Physics is the most basic science, it explains how the world works. Theoretical physics helps us expand the horizons of what we know. Most of modern technology is a result of developments that can be traced to theoretical physics--quantum mechanics, relativity, or statistical mechanics.

Since the category is weather, theoretical physics is important specifically because much of weather forecasting is based on numerical weather prediction, which has the laws of physics as its basis. Some of the more recent advances, such as ensemble forecasting, have come out of theoretical advances in nonlinear physics and chaos theory.

Answer 2

Excellent answer pegminer. That was well stated.