Is Physics a Liberal Art?

1. Is Physics a Liberal Art? Jason Zimba

2. Physics 101 Matter of Life and Death Me, Perturber Sifting through the Wreckage

3. Physics 101

9. Matter of Life and Death

11. Though in the course of ages catastrophes have occurred • and may yet occur in the heavens, though ancient systems • may be dissolved and new systems evolved out of their ruins, • the [atoms] out of which [the sun and the planets] are built— • the foundation stones of the material universe—remain unbroken • and unworn. They continue this day as they were created— • perfect in number and measure and weight. • James Clerk Maxwell, quoted in Pais (1982), Subtle is the Lord…, p. 62.

14. If you were leaning like that, what would you feel? Try leaning against the wall with your shoulder blades against the wall. (And take your shoes off so you can feel everything!) Close your eyes and search your senses. What do you feel? You feel pressure in your shoulders where your shoulders touch the wall; perhaps even some pricking, if the wall is rough and the skin of your shoulders is exposed. Evidently, the wall is pushing against your skin. Down at your feet, you feel compression in the tissue of your feet where your feet touch the floor. Evidently, the floor is pushing up on the soles of your feet, compressing the flesh. You feel the skin on the bottoms of your feet tending to roll back, making the skin around your toes feel tight. Evidently, the floor is dragging the flesh of your feet backwards towards the wall. (And did you look closely at the bristles of the push broom in the figure? Do you see the way the floor is pushing the bristles towards the wall?)

19. Me, Perturber

24. Sifting through the Wreckage