Question

1. Give a few reasons for studying physics.
2. Why must words be carefully defined for scientific use?
3. Why are simplified models used in scientific study if
they do not exactly match real conditions?

Answer 1

1) Reasons for studying physics:

1. Physics helps to explain how the world works. Many things are happening around us from microscopic to macroscopic scale. We take a lot of them for granted. But if we try to understand them using physics, we get to know surprising facts about the nature. Take for example when we throw something up, why it falls back to the ground? If we be a little curious and try to find the answer, we will know that it is gravity because of which it falls back. Then we will be surprised to know that the same gravity is the reason we stay connected to the ground. The same gravitational force is the reason our solar system exists. So, Physics beautifully explains most of the secrets of the universe and how small things have beautiful explanations.
2. Physics tries to explain the unknown. Ever wondered where does the universe end? what is inside of a blackhole? How phase transition happens? Well physics may not have a satisfactory solution at this moment, but the thrill in exploring the unknown is amazing. Physics gives us the mechanisms, the hypothesis, the tools to explore and we try to find out how can we describe the unknown with the known. A curious mind will find infinite possibilities in physics.
3. Physics helps us to think. We can chose a problem and then keep researching about it , read books, do the mathematics and in this process we think a lot and that helps in developing our critical thinking and problem solving skills.
4. Studying physics will help us have a great career. We can become research scientists, professors in prestigious universities. We can also use the skills we learnt in industries.
5. Above all Physics is versatile in nature. Physics has connection with almost all other branches of science and we can easily collaborate with people from other branches.

2)  Why must words be carefully defined for scientific use?

1. Vagueness while defining a term in science leads to a lot of problems. Especially while writing a research paper if we use awkward, vague, and unclear words, it will create a lot of trouble to be understood by other researches who read your paper for reference.
2. Carefully defining scientific terms helps us to understand them in different circumstances without getting confused.

3) Why are simplified models used in scientific study if they do not exactly match real conditions?

1. The physics in real life is very complicated because we don't see isolated systems which are easier to describe. But what is see is combination of different system who exchange energy and matter with each other. So devising their mechanism is almost impossible.
2. So learning physics directly from the real life systems will render it useless. So, in order to tackle this we use simplified models. These simplifies models eliminate the complexities of real life and helps us understand the underlying physics which are also applicable in real life.
3. Once we understand the simplified model. Keeping in mind that in real life there are a lot of additions to this model, we carefully add one complexity (call it impurity or perturbation in system) then we see that the problem becomes difficult. But since we carefully make the simplified model by choosing the impurity, we can track how the system behaves.
4. So, a simplified model proves to be an excellent starting point for complex phenomena. Then we can gradually add complexities to make it more and more like real life systems.