Physics Essays 1) Albert Michelson once said, The most important fundamental laws and facts of physical science

have been discovered, and these are now so firmly established that the possibility of their ever being supplemented by new discoveries is exceedingly remote. This statement comes across as illogical. Recent discoveries like the Higgs-Bosen have exemplified the changes in physics over the past 27 years. As technology changes, more discoveries can be made. One of these major discoveries is the Higgs-Bosen particle, which was discovered earlier this year. This particle is considered to be the God particle which we did not have the technology to see before now. This "God particle will supposedly complete the model of the universe, explain why objects have mass and explain why things have the right to exist. Another example is in 1993 when physicist had to change the topology of String Theory to include fuzziness. The next discovery is of dark matter, which led to the discovery that 90 percent of the universe is made up of dark matter. This helps us understand the fate, composition and origin of the universe. Another discovery is the fundamental nature of light. It used to be believed that Newtons particle theory was the correct theory, not Huygens wave theory. T he truth is though, that parts of both theories were correct while other parts were incorrect. 2) Newtons particle theory and Huygens wave theory are both theories of the fundamental nature of light. Both theories described things that were true about the nature of light, but were not fully true themselves. Newtons theory says that light is composed of particles moving in a straight line. Images that are created are due to pinholes and lenses. Also, the color changes how the light refracts. The issues with this theory though were that there is never a refraction at and an interface or the fact that at reflections the relative intensities of the 2 components (the reflected ray and the incident ray) depend on the angle of the occurrence. Also, that if a small pinhole is made, the image of the light going through the pinhole begins to widen instead of narrowing. Huygen on the other hand believed that the known properties of light could be distinguished if you assumed that light was a wave in some invisible medium. In Huygens theory refraction was comprehended if the waves traveled slower in a dense medium. This theory can be shown by geometric constructions that involve no elaborate mathematics. The first weakness of wave theory is that it has issues accounting for the copious occurrences of electromagnetic radiation. The scientific community of the 1600s and 1700s gave credit to Newtons theory though, because it made more sense based on the knowledge and techniques available at the time. 3) The discoveries of the last hundred years have had a profound effect on the society and the world today. The discovery of the technology that allows us to harness atomic power has had great positive and negative implications on society. With this technology, we have been able to create a cleaner source of power, and we have also been able to create new forms of therapy like radiation therapy for cancer patients to give them an increased chance of living. Atomic power has also been used in negative ways. One of these ways was the US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Another discovery in the last hundred years to have a profound effect on society is the invention of the transistor. What seemed to be a useless invention was needed to invent computers and other electronic devices such as cellular phones which are the mainstays of communication in the world today. In the last 16 years even, many discoveries have affected the world and society profoundly. The discovery of dark matter outside of ordinary matter is another discovery. This discovery has forced readjustments in our basic understandings of the universe such as gravity and the origins of the universe. Another discovery was the invention and opening of the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The collider created a lot of societal tension when it was first set to open, because of the infinitesimal

Physics Essays potential for the creation of a black hole. While this is still a possibility, the collider has been fully functional since 2010 and has not created a black hole while enabling the discovery of the HiggsBosen particle.