| Everything remains at rest unless a force is applied to it | Mechanics |
| For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction | |
| Energy cannot be created nor destroyed but it can change forms | |
| The pull of gravity between 2 objects depends on their mass and distance | |
| If we know an object's mass / acceleration we can work out the forces on it | |
| Heat cannot travel to an area that is warmer than its current one | Thermodynamics |
| It is impossible to reach a temperature of absolute zero | |
| An insulating material’s resistance to conductive heat flow is its R-Value | |
| Thermodynamics is the study of how heat relates to other forms of energy | |
| Temperature is actually a measure of kinetic energy (movement) | |
| Electromagnetism is the study of the link between electricity and magnetism | Electromagnetism |
| Electric currents create magnetic fields | |
| Similarly, magnetic fields can create voltages | |
| Knowing this has allowed us to develop electromagnets | |
| And transformers, which transfer power between two circuits | |
| Nothing can travel faster than light | Relativity |
| The faster you travel, the slower time goes for you | |
| Time also goes more slowly if gravity is stronger | |
| In theory, if you could travel faster than light, time would go backwards | |
| Only space can travel faster than light - but it is not matter or energy | |
| Everything that exists is actually a wave | Quantum Theory |
| For subatomic particles time is meaningless | |
| Subatomic particles can be in many places at once - until we look at them | |
| It is impossible to predict quantum events. Instead we use probability | |
| Schrödinger's cat is a famous illustration of quantum theory | |
| Optics is the study of light's behaviour, qualities and interactions with matter | Optics |
| There are invisible kinds of light, like X-rays, radio waves and ultra violet | |
| Some materials slow light down. Glass reduces its speed by about 25% | |
| Everything we can see either produces light (like the Sun) or reflects it | |
| Some materials bend light (think of lenses). We call this refraction | |
| Nuclear physics is the study of atoms' nuclei | Nuclear |
| Elements are created and stars shine all because of nuclear fusion | |
| Heavier elements are not made by stars but by collisions of neutron stars | |
| Nuclear fission splits atoms, releasing vast amounts of energy | |
| One downside of nuclear power is radioactive waste | |
| Cosmology studies the beginning and development of the universe | Cosmology |
| The Big Bang is the best model we have for the beginning of the universe | |
| What happened before the Big Bang is unknown. Time may have begun then | |
| Since then the universe has been constantly expanding | |
| Dark Matter is a mystery. We know it exists but cannot detect it | |
| Condensed matter physics studies the macroscopic properties of matter | Matter |
| Most studies are concerned with solids, the densest kinds of matter | |
| It has helped us to understand how metals "work" | |
| And this has brought us transistors, solar cells and other technologies | |
| However, it is seen as "boring" by many and few physicists study it | |
| Galileo’s Tower of Pisa experiment changed our understanding of gravity | History |
| And Copernicus proved that the Earth orbits the Sun | |
| Sir Isaac Newton changed physics more than anybody else | |
| Although Einstein is more famous because of his E=MC² equation | |
| The ultimate aim of physics is a "Theory of Everything" | |
