Originally Posted by
wilson_smyth
Newtonian physics is incorrect, its not how the universe works. Its good, in so far as it provides formulas that can explain forces acting on matter. Its not correct though, as was proven when relativity was used to calculate with much higher precision the positions of stars behind the sun during a solar eclipse.
Newtonian physics isn’t “incorrect”. It’s incomplete. If you want to measure something, you can use a yardstick to get close. If you want to measure something more precisely you can use a micrometer. But there are places where the yardstick is good enough and places where the micrometer can’t be used. Newtonian physics is the yardstick. It works well enough for gross measurement...and not to badly for precise measurements. Relativity is like the micrometer. It works really well for a high degree of precision but you wouldn’t want to use it for everyday measurements.
Further, if Newtonian physics is wrong, why is it taught in every introductory physics course taught. I took physics in high school in the early 70s and in college in the late 70s. That that’s roughly 60 years after the discovery of relativity when I took physics and we are now 100+ years afterward. Why would we continue to teach an incorrect system?
Newtonian physics is still useful, as long as what one is trying to achieve does not require higher precision, but its based on a model that is inherently incorrect.
Again, not “incorrect”. That implies that it is wrong and can’t be used for anything. If you say that the value of pi is 3.14, that is not “wrong”. It’s just not precise enough for some applications. Generally, however, it’s close enough.
The model isn’t “inherently incorrect” either because it can be used to make fairly good predictions. Trajectories, impact forces, frictional forces, etc that all come from Newtonian physics are close enough for most applications. If Newtonian physics were “wrong”, it wouldn’t be used.
To take your baseball scenario, the accuracy required is coarse enough that Newtonian physics can be used to do the maths, but if you want to get the accuracy higher, Newtonian physics breaks down.
How far do they “break down”? If a baseball is thrown at your head, being off by a few femtometers isn’t going to make that much difference.
Im not going to try to convince you otherwise on the periodic table. you said what you said, its there to be read. Ignore it or pretend it meant something else if you must.
What I said was meant mostly as a joke but has spiraled way out of control. I still stand by what I said in my first post and every post since. The elements in the periodic table...both known and unknown...make up the material of the Universe.