From cars to smartphones, every technology we rely on was engineered using physicsYou don't need to know science to use these things. But a well-rounded human being must understand at least some key concepts, including music, art, history, and economics. robert heinlein said it all enough time for love,
“A human being should be able to change diapers, plan an invasion, butcher a pig, build a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders ” Give orders, cooperate, work alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, fertilize, program a computer, cook delicious food, fight skillfully, die bravely. Specialization is for insects.”
So, in the interest of not becoming a bug, here are my top five physics equations you should know.
1. Newton's second law
I'm sure you've seen it before—it's over 300 years old, and it's popular for science memes and T-shirts. It states that the total force acting on an object is equal to its mass (m) times acceleration (ABut what does that really mean? It's all about interaction – like when you kick a soccer ball or drop a water bottle on the floor.
Newton's second law says that we can describe these interactions with the concept of “force”. And what do armies do? The net force acting on an object changes the motion of the object. But wait! There is much more to this seemingly simple equation.
look at those arrows up F And AThis indicates variables that are vectors, meaning they contain more than one piece of information. For example, if someone asks you to maintain a “social distance” of 1 meter, where will you end up? Who knows? You can go 1 meter east or west or 39 degrees north. Distance in itself is not the whole story; You must also specify a direction. This is true for both force and acceleration. Other quantities (such as mass or temperature) have no direction. We call those scalar values.
Newton's second law is extremely useful, but it is strange that people do not believe in it. A common misconception is that a constant force causes an object to move at a constant speed. Rather, what this equation says is that if you apply a constant force to an object, it will continue to accelerate.