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Physics XI | 1.3 PHYSICS, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

1.3 PHYSICS, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

The connection between physics, technology and society can be seen in many examples. The discipline of thermodynamics arose from the need to understand and improve the working of heat engines. The steam engine, as we know, is inseparable from the Industrial Revolution in England in the eighteenth century, which had great impact on the course of human civilisation. Sometimes technology gives rise to new physics; at other times physics generates new technology. An example of the latter is the wireless communication technology that followed the discovery of the basic laws of electricity and magnetism in the nineteenth century. The applications of physics are not always easy to foresee. As late as 1933, the great physicist Ernest Rutherford had dismissed the possibility of tapping energy from atoms. But only a few years later, in 1938, Hahn and Meitner discovered the phenomenon of neutron-induced fission of uranium, which would serve as the basis of nuclear power reactors and nuclear weapons. Yet another important example of physics giving rise to technology is the silicon ‘chip’ that triggered the computer revolution in the last three decades of the twentieth century.

A most significant area to which physics has and will contribute is the development of alternative energy resources. The fossil fuels of the planet are dwindling fast and there is an urgent need to discover new and affordable sources of energy. Considerable progress has already been made in this direction (for example, in conversion of solar energy, geothermal energy, etc., into electricity], but much more is still to be accomplished.

Physics is the study of nature and natural phenomena. Physicists try to discover the rules that are operating in nature, on the basis of observations, experimentation and analysis. Physics deals with certain basic rules/laws governing the natural world. What is the nature of physical laws? We shall now discuss the nature of fundamental forces and the laws that govern the diverse phenomena of the physical world.

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16 responses to “Physics XI | 1.3 PHYSICS, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY”

  1. @admin. Thanx for such cool blog! Please can you explain relative velocity with some questions as example? Page 51 , 3.7th topic. NCERT

    • We’ll try to include the tutorial of relative velocity. When it would be included we’ll mail you the details.

      Thanks

  2. thanks. pls give some quetions and answers from the chapter ‘system of particles and rotational motion’.

  6. article is good.but not enough .can i get more about this topic-physics technology and society?

  10. dear sir,can 1 get a 2 page article on the topic -physics and society .im a 11th std student and that is my project this year needs to be submittd day after 2morrw.plzzzzzzzzzzzzzz mail it to my id!!!!!!!!!!!!thanx a ton.

    • Unfortunately currently no ready made article is available on the topic. So it is not possible to give it in two days.

      Thanks

  13. hi, admin .. it just copy of ncert book .. please post something new so that i can understand easily … 🙂

  14. Thanks this was very helpful.Can you please include another toptic:nature of physical laws based on physics chapter 2 for class 11 cbse.please reply