do the laws of physics ever change or are they constant in every circumstance?

Answer 1

There are a lot of nuances to this question. First, there are some scientists who believe that some of the constants of nature, say the speed of light, the Newtonian Gravitational Constant, and others actually change very slowly over the history of the Universe, all experiments designed to detect such changes indicate that if any such changes do occur, they are very, very small, but it might be possible.

Another way to look at your question is to ask if the nature of something like gravity changes with time. In the very early moments of the universe(something like the first 10^(-43)s, the nature of forces was like nothing we understand now, but since the early moments of the universe when the four forces we recognize today manifested themselves separately from a (theorized) single unified force, scientists believe that the nature of forces has remained the same.

What changes, and often changes in radical ways, is our UNDERSTANDING of those forces. For example, we understood gravity in terms of Newton's laws for hundreds of years, until we realized that Einstein's theory of general relativity was a more encompassing theory. This does not mean the nature of the universe changed, nor does it mean that we ignore Newton, it just means that we have new insights into how to describe and understand nature. The goal of science is just that...to build upon what we know to derive new and sometimes revolutionary ways of understanding the universe.

Hope this is on point, and thanks for asking.

Answer 2

This is a subject which is being studied actively. You might think that it is very difficult to gather evidence, but in fact there are studies we can conduct. Fortunately, the immense size of the observable universe makes it possible for us to observe the physical world as it was a long time ago. Observations about the spectra of quasars billions of light years ago tell us something about the physics of billions of years ago, for example. One issue which is being studied is whether the gravitational constant has varied over time. So far all we can say with certainty is that there is no compelling evidence for any of the laws of physics having changed over the past ten billion years or so, but that we can't be totally certain either way. As for quantum physics, you say that there are no rules at all. That is incorrect: there are rules, but they are not the iron rules of cause and effect we are used to on the macro scale. In the quantum world, the rules are those of probability and statistics. That brings us to what is really the core of your question. You are happy with physics on an 'Earth level scale' because that is what you are used to. There is really nothing intrinsically more satisfying about Newtonian than Einsteinian physics. On the contrary, General Relativity is a beautiful theory. But if you are used to thinking only in Newtonian terms, it is simply unfamiliar, and the unfamiliar always seems a bit odd. Mind you, I would grant that some aspects of quantum physics are a bit odder than that. Until and unless someone manages to reconcile q mech with gravity, we won't know whether both theories really make sense in roughly their current forms.

Answer 3

The "laws" of science have continued to evolve as our understanding changes. It used to be a "law" that matter could be neither created nor destroyed. That was good law and is still a good law in almost all reactions. The exception is nuclear reactions which were not understood at that time the "law" was postulated. It used to a law that atoms were the smallest pieces of matter until people began to understand electrons, protons and nuetrons (which were believed to be the smallest things until they discovered that these "fundamental" particles were made up of even smaller "fundamental" particles. There are lots of examples. It is foolhardy to believe that we understand everything so well that we can not learn anything new about what we thought was correct.

All that said, based on our best abilities to observe the rest of the universe, the evidence suggests that many of the processes we have direct experience with here on earth follow the same rules when they happen in distant stars.

I hope this helps.

Answer 4

I believe that the current consensus is that there have been no changes in the physical constants since the Big Bang, but the question has been seriously debated in a number of contexts. Some theorists have proposed that the speed of light or strong nuclear force may have changed slowly with time, but their seems to be little empirical support for these hypotheses.

Answer 5

The laws of physics don't change - but they aren't what you think they are.

At the atomic/molecular level, quantum mechanics is all the physics there is. But when you start to change scales from single atoms or molecules to larger and larger collections of those objects, something interesting happens - statistics.

There is a basic principle that says laws don't change at ANY scale - but as the scale increases, the observed properties become statistical in nature and might appear to be different.

Which is why you never feel the individual air molecules hitting your skin - but you do feel the average pressure of their constant bombardment.

Answer 6

There's no evidence that any of the laws of physics have ever changed, although in principle there's no reason why they couldn't, and there might be reasons to believe that they could be different in different parts of the universe.

However, we can directly observe distant galaxies, which are both distant in space and far in the past, and the laws of physics in them are all exactly the same as here and now.

Answer 7

The laws of physics are a constant. The only time they change is on the super small level (the quantum level, where they use quantum physics) or when dealing with the properties of other dimensions, which is all theoretical stuff.

Answer 8

One could argue that they 'changed' at the creation/formation of this particular universe, with its particular set of physical laws.

One could argue that they changed during the inflationary epoch of cosmology.

One could argue that the cosmological 'constant' has changed.

One could argue that, if the Variable Speed of Light theory is correct, that the speed of light has changed.

Or, one could trump all those arguments and say that those variations are all part of the 'laws of physics'.

Answer 9

Inside a Black Hole.
Faster than the speed of light.
Shortly before the Big Bang.

Answer 10

Also at the singularity point of a black hole, density is infinite, gravity is infinite, time and space cease to exist as we know them and there goes the laws of physics.