Physics 197 Chapter C.1: Introduction to Interactions

• School: WUSTL
• Department: Physics
• Course: Physics 197
• Professor: Ferrar

Document Summary

Conceptual science: physical models that captures a phenomenon"s essence while remaining small and simple enough to grasp. Theories: grand models able to embrace a huge range of phenomena. Theory of general relativity: currently accepted general theory of gravity. Theory of quantum mechanics: an approximate version of relativistic quantum eld theory that accurately predicts physical phenomena involving objects of all sizes moving much more slowly than light in fairly weak gravitational elds. Special relativity: theory that accurately predicts physical phenomena involving objects and distance scales much larger than single atoms in fairly weak gravitational. Newtonian mechanics: approximately valid for large distances and massive objects moving much slower than light in weak gravitational elds. Electromagnetic field theory: approximately valid for weak elds and large distances. Statistical mechanics: describes complex objects made up of many interacting particles. Symmetry principles: properties of a given set of physical laws that state they do not change even when the situation to which they are applied changes.