First Assignment in ‘English for Physics’

Course

Name : Stefanus Nathaniel Reginal Kolondam

NIM: 23030184145
University : State University of Surabaya (UNESA)
Faculty : Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
Major : Undergraduate in Physics Education program
Class : PFA 2023
Subject : English for Physics’s Task in first week at 2nd semester
Lecturer : Mukhayyarotin Niswati Rodliyatul Jauhariyah, S.Pd.,
M.Pd. (0020058701)

(Based on “The Force of Nature” by Paul Davies”).

1. What is the definition and the influence of the forces?

Answer: In the concept of Newtonian mechanics, in simple terms, force is the cause
of 'disturbtion' of the condition of an object from its natural state (Force of Nature,
page 3), either making the object stop moving at a uniform motion or making the
object to move from its original state of rest. And pertaining to the influence of the
forces, according to Paul Davies in his book ‘Force of Nature’, without forces there
is no movement or interaction between objects that constituent the universe that we
now know, from planetary orbit to the sub-atomic particles. In other words, if there
are no force at all in universe so that the universe soon to be not existed at all
because there are not ‘something’ that will sustaining dan maintaining the movement
dan progression of universe anymore. So the forces plays an important and vital role
in because the influence is felt from a microscopic (electron bounded to nucleus) to
a macroscopic level (planetary and galaxies orbit).

2. Aristotle said that "motion requires cause", what the mean?

Answer: It’s just about causality relation in Aristotle’s logics. He perceives motion
of the objects as an effect of ‘something else’ that produce it. Then, he concluded
that motion require any cause because from common logics it can be inferred, and
without ‘the cause’ that produces and sustains the motion of an object so that it can
rest everlastingly, from his point of view.

3. Why the Aristotle's idea was failure? Give the explanation!

Answer: Aristotle's misconception regarding the motion of an objects was his view
that the natural state of an object is at rest. From his point of view, an object that
initially moves and then stops from that motion, it’s because there is no force that
sustaining it that motion anymore. He didn’t account the other possible natural state
of the object. The correct idea came from Isaac Newton point of view, that natural
state of every object in universe is rest or move in uniform motion because both of it
will not requires ‘any force’ at all. Either in rest or in uniform motion (constant
velocity) there are no acceleration so that there’s no force that sustain it. Aristotle's
idea was fail to perceive that the condition of object at rest is just only one of many
natural states of an object in universe (Force of Nature, page 2).The core is simply
like this, Aristotle’s idea regarded as wrong because natural state of the object is
only at rest so that to keep object in motion require force that maintaining it, whereas
the object can move (uniform motion) with zero net force (there’re no force that
sustaining), so that object in uniform motion doesn’t require any force at all. That’s
the point that Aristotle’idea is wrong.
4. Give the information about the law of momentum conservation!
Also give an example of physics phenomenon that can be explain it!
Answer: Conservation of momentum is general law of physics according to which
the quantity called momentum that characterizes motion never changes in an isolated
collection of objects; that is, the total momentum of a system remains constant. The
law of conservation of momentum tells that the vector sum of all momentum cannot
increase or decrease. Example of it can be looked upon the motion of a rocket. The
exhaust gases from the rocket ejected backward propel the craft forwards so that the
total momentum of the system is unchanged.

5. When the angular momentum conserved?

Answer: According to Paul Davies in his book ‘Force of Nature’ page 5, according
Newton’s first law of motion, the angular momentum is conserved when there is no
external torque (External rotational force) so that total angular momentum of a
closed system remain constant. A good example in daily life when the angular
momentum is conservcd is the spinning ice skater. By contractiong her arms so that
decreasing external torque (friction) with the air and thereby concentrating her mass
closer to axis of rotation so that she conserves the angular momentum by increasing
her rotation rate.

6. Give the information about the law of energy conservation! Also

give an example of physics phenomenon that can be explain it!

Answer: The law of conservation of energy states that the total energy of an isolated
system remains constant; it is said to be conserved over time. In the case of a closed
system, the law says that the total amount of energy within the system can only be
changed through energy entering or leaving the system. Energy can neither be
created nor destroyed; rather, it can only be transformed or transferred from one form
to another form. The example of it can be looked upon our daily experience like
when we drive a car, inside car’s engine there’s a mechanism to converts chemical
energy (gasoline) into kinetic energy so that the car can move. Another example of
conservation of energy is when a block slides down a slope, potential energy is
converted into kinetic energy. When friction slows the block to a stop, the kinetic
energy is converted into thermal energy.

7. Isaac Newton's great contribution was to deduce the gravity force

of nature exerted by an isolated body such as the sun. Explain his
great contribution!
Answer: Around 1666, Sir Isaac Newton developed the idea that Kepler's laws
about planatary orbit around the sun in the solar system, must also apply to the orbit
of the Moon around the Earth and then to all objects on Earth. Then, In 1687 Newton
published his book ‘Principia’ which combined his laws of motion with new
mathematical analysis (calculus) to explain Kepler's empirical results. His
explanation was in the form of a law of universal gravitation: any two bodies are
attracted by a force proportional to their mass and inversely proportional to their
separation squared. While Newton was able to formulate his law of gravity in his
monumental work, he was deeply uncomfortable with the notion of "action at a
distance" that his equations implied. In 1692, in his third letter to Bentley, he
wrote: "That one body may act upon another at a distance through a vacuum without
the mediation of anything else, by and through which their action and force may be
conveyed from one another, is to me so great an absurdity that, I believe, no man
who has in philosophic matters a competent faculty of thinking could ever fall into
it."
However, the Principia also contained some of Newton’s first published works on
the motion of the planets and gravity. His great contribution to physics, especially to
mechanical dynamics showed in 1687 that relationships like Kepler's would apply in
the Solar System as a consequence of his own laws of motion and law of universal
gravitation in his book. Newton worked out that if the force of gravity pulled the
apple from the tree, then it was also possible for gravity to exert its pull on objects
much, much further away. Newton’s theory helped prove that all objects, as small as
an apple and as large as a planet, are subject to gravity. His contribution is to help us
understand that it’s Gravity that keep the planets rotating around the sun and creates
the ebbs and flows of rivers and tides on the earth.

8. Give the explanation of the characteristic pattern of the field force

on some charge arrangements based on this picture!

Answer:
a) It’s a single isolated positive charge that depicts the shape of electric fields by
direction of the pattern lines of force radiating uniformly in all directions from the
charge where they originate or move away from the centre of the positively charge .
b) It’s a single isolated negative charge that depicts the shape of electric fields by
direction of the pattern lines of force radiating uniformly in all directions toward the
center of a charge or move away towards the centre of the negatively charge .

c) There are two unlike electric charges namely positive and negative that attract
each other and this is reflected in the many lines of force which link them together.
The electric field surrounding various charge arrangements can represented by a
pattern of lines showing the direction of force as depicted above.

d) There are two like electric charges namely positive that repel each other and this
is reflected in the many lines of force which turn away from each other. The electric
field surrounding various charge arrangements can represented by a pattern of lines
showing the direction of force as depicted above.

8. Parallel metal plates are known as condensers and are are

frequently used in electrical circuitry. When the simple arrangement
shown in the figure below switch closed, what will happen? Explain it!
Answer:
When the switch is closed, the battery delivers some charge to the plates of the
capacitor as looked that picture above. As the charge flows into the plates along the
wires so an electric fields (arrows symbol) builds up between the plates. Although no
electric current flows across that gap between the plates, its influence still reaches
across the gap in the form of electric field that causes polarization of the charge
between that plates. The changing electric field acts as an effective electric current,
just as with real current, it too produces a magnetic field, and this effect can be seen
at the deflection of the compass magnet between that plat.

10. Give the information about the difference of the space ant time
theory based on the Newtonian theory and Einstein's theory!

Answer: Isaac Newton's theory of time and space, known as Newtonian mechanics,
was a revolutionary theory that explained the motion of objects and the force of
gravity. However, Newtonian mechanics had certain limitations and made certain
assumptions that were later shown to be incorrect. For example, Newtonian
mechanics assumes that time and space are absolute and unchanging, and that the
speed of light is infinite. These assumptions were found to be inconsistent with
certain experimental results. Meanwhile, Einstein's theory of special relativity, which
was developed in the early 20th century, reconciled some of these inconsistencies by
proposing that time and space are not absolute but are relative to the observer. His
theory also introduced the concept of spacetime, which combines the three
dimensions of space with the dimension of time into a single unified structure.
Special relativity was able to explain the results of certain experiments, such as the
Michelson-Morley experiment, that could not be explained by Newtonian mechanics.

Another crucial difference between two theories is this, that in Newton’s theory only
a mass material object that gravitate, meanwhile in Einstein’s general relativity, it’s
not only material object that gravitate. Energy, pressure, and stress forces also
produce gravity (Force of Nature, page 8). Moreover, whereas in Newton’s theory,
gravitational forces act instantaneously across the space from one object to the other
object, but Einstein’s theory describes gravitational action in term of a field in which
disturbances propagate through the medium that no faster than the speed of light.