FIRST LECTURE

Reductionism
Theory that every complex phenomenon can be
explained by analyzing the simplest sum of parts or
whole thing.
Complex system is the sum of parts and that
accounts of it can be reduced to accounts of
individual constituents.
From one group down to each individual and their
relationship to one another.
Sociology Psychology Physiology Biology
Chemistry Applied Physics
In reductionism, one must understand the parts to
understand the whole.
At the bottom of everything, all things are
mechanical.
HISTORY
Thales of Miletus 624-546 BCE
o
Greek philosopher
o
Father of Reductionism
o
First to define general principles and set
forth hypotheses

Demonstrated predictive power of

science: MAY 28 585 BCE SOLAR
ECLIPSE
o
Originating principle of nature was a
simple substance: WATER

Everything is water in disguise

Aristotle 384-322 BCE
o
It is easy for philosophers to be rich
Isaac Newton December 25, 1642- March 20, 1727
o
Father of Mechanics
o
Wrote THE PRINCIPIA

Three laws of Motion and the Law

of Gravitation
o
The future is never independent of the past

Initial conditions uniquely

determine the future
o
The simplest of each part is subject to
Newtons Laws, thus subject to CAUSAL
DETERMINISM
Causal Determinism
The idea that every event is necessitated by previous
events and conditions together with laws of nature.
Unification and Reduction in electromagnetism
The two forces are separate; manifestation of
electromagnetic field (joint forces only appear as
one)
1. Electricity
a. Affects path of H2O
2. Magnetism
a. Magnetic field
James Clerk Maxwell June 13, 1831 November 5, 1879
Philosophical Magnitude of Science
MAXWELLS EQUATION
o

Bx By Bz
+
+
x y z

Mid-20th century equation

o
Fd = 0
Quantum Mechanics
Max Planck 1854 1947
Albert Einstein 1879 1955
Erwan Schrodinger
o
Schrodinger Equation summarizes the
periodic table and everything about
chemistry
-

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Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA)

C-G and T-A

FUNDAMENTAL FORCES OF NATURE

1. Strong
a. DEFINITION: Force which holds the nucleus
b. RANGE: 10-15
c. STRENGTH: 1
2. Electromagnetic
a. DEFINITION: Force present in electricity (TV
sets etc)
b. RANGE: infinite
c.
3.

Weak
a.

STRENGTH:

1
137

DEFINITION: Force present in beta decay of

atoms
b. RANGE: 10-18
c. STRENGTH: 10-6
4. Gravitational
a. DEFINITION: Earths pull
b. RANGE: infinite
c. STRENGTH: 6 x 10-39
SECOND LECTURE
Mans search for the Center of the Universe
THE EARTH IS FLAT
Plane or disk covered with firmament containing with
heavenly bodies
Early Egyptian and Mesopotamian
o
Flat disk floating in the ocean
Thales of Miletus
o
Earth is flat, floating on water like a log
Ancient China
o
Flat and square, while the heavens were
round
THE SPHERICAL EARTH
Pythagoras 6 BC
o
Earth is spherical
Parmenides 5 BC
o
Earth is spherical
Crates of Mallus 2 BC
o
Devised a terrestrial sphere dividing earth
into four divisions (Continents Earth has
spaced compartments earth, air, water, fire)
SUN IS THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE
Heliocentric model
o
Aristarchus of Samos 310 230 BC

Muslim scholars had same idea (11

C) and also European scholars
o
In the heliocentric model, closer stars
should somehow shift in position to relative
background
Aristarchus Model
o
All planets revolve around the sun along
circular paths
o
Moon orbits the earth
o
Earth turns on its axis
o
WHY DIDNT IT GAIN ACCEPTANCE?

Original writings were lost in the

GREAT LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA
during destruction in 415 AD

Concept of the moving earth defies

common sense

Failure of absence to detect stellar

parallax

Size of possible parallax

was overestimated

First successful measurement of stellar parallax

o
Friedrich Bessel 1838

Cygnus Constellation

EARTH IS BACK IN THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE

Ptolemys model
o
Standard model from 1500 years
o
10,000 earth diameters from the center;
stars were fixed on the celestial sphere that
rotated once every 24 hours
o
Sun and five planets had motion
o
WHY DID IT SURVIVE FOR SO LONG?

It worked that it could predict the

position of a planet within 2

It accounted for the observed

planetary motions, retrograde
motion, and variations in
brightness

Unlike Aristarchus model, it didnt

predict unobserved stellar parallax

Placed the earth in its natural place

at the center of things satisfying
Aristotelian philosophy

Matched with common sense; we

dont feel the earth move and
Ptolemys model had a static earth

Planet backtracks on its path

across the sky through
constellations before reverting to
normal path
Nicolas Copernicus
o
Polish Astronomer and Mathematician
o
Revolutions of heavenly bodies

Universe is spherical, earth too is

spherical

Earth forms a single sphere with

water

Motion of heavenly bodies

o
Book was published in the year of his death,
1543
o
Opposed by Protestants including Martin
Luther (Lutherans) and John Calvin
(Calvinists)
o
Catholics placed it on INDEX LIBORUM
PROHIBITORUM, list of prohibited books as
dangerous to faith of Catholics
MILKY WAY GALAXY AS THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE
Thomas Wright Sept 22, 1711 Feb 25, 1786
o
English astronomer, mathematician,
instruments maker, architect, garden
designer
o
First to describe the shape of the Milky way
galaxy and speculate that faith Nebulae
were distant galaxies
NONEXISTENCE OF THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE
Herber Doust Curtis June 27, 1872 Jan 9, 1942
o
Milky way is just one of the potentially
infinite island universes
o
Andromeda Nebulae or Andromeda alaxy
Edwin Powell Hubble Nov 20, 1889Sept 28, 1953
o
The universe is expanding

Every point of the universe is

expanding or moving away

Big bang expansion

o
13.7 Billion yrs

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Didnt occur at a
single particular
point in space

Space and time were

created
o
These two were
expanding in
accordance to
the Big Bang
o
As the universe
expands, space is
being revealed
o
Galaxies are moving away

Not only moving but also gets

carried away from expansion
String theory
o
There is something before the big bang
o
QUANTUM FOAM

There were seeds (per universe)

that grew and became different
universes
Cosmological Principle
o
The universe is homogeneous and isotropic

Homogeneous in a sense that there

is same observational evidence
THIRD LECTURE
What is our place in the universe?
There are:
400 Billion stars in the milky way galaxy
200 Billion galaxies in the visible universe
400 Billion habitable planets in the galaxy
8,000 Billion habitable planets in the universe
DRAKE EQUATION
Statistical expression; not for definite numbers
Gives an idea of how many planets could be possibly
habitable
There are around 1000 exoplanets
LATEST ESTIMATE (Milky way galaxy)
o
Minimum of 20 civilizations
o
Possible range: 1000 100 000 000
Civilizations
o
200 Billion galaxies in the visible universe
FOURTH LECTURE
THE MECHANICAL UNIVERSE
Democritus 5 BCE
o
ATOMISM - Vacuum exists among the
interstices smallest indivisible parts of
matter and extends without bound infinitely
o
According to him, vacuum or void exists
Aristotle 384 BCE
o
A void is nothing and what is nothing simply
cannot exist
o
Universe is a material plenum, finite in
extent bounded by outermost sphere of the
fixed stars
o
Time is just a measure of motion, where by
motion means change of any sort,
including qualitative change
Walter Charleton Feb 2, 1619 April 29, 1707
o
Physiologica Epicuro Gassendo Charlotan
o
Revival of atomism
o
Time and space are real entities even
though they fit neither of traditional
categories of substance or accident
(properties of substance)
o
Time flows on eternally in the same calm
and equal tenor
o

Motions of all bodies is subject to

acceleration, retardation, or suspension
o
Time is distinct from any measure of it eg.
Celestial motion or the solar day
o
Space is absolutely immoveable and
incorporeal (no body)

Independent of anything that

happens
o
Bodies or corporeal dimensions are
everywhere; coexistent and compatriot
with the dimensions of the parts of space
they occupy
o
Space distinct from body existed before God
created the world and that Gods
omnipresence is his literal presence
everywhere
o
Charleton did not introduce relative space
and tikme
Rene Descartes
o
Principles of Philosophy
o
Pure elements of Aristotelian Physics could
mutate into one another by alteration of the
fundamental qualities
o
There had to be something distinguishable,
at least in thought from qualities that persist
during elemental alteration
o
This quality less substratum is what Aristotle
referred to as MATTER or PRIME MATTER

Matter is the simplest known entity

that has no qualities but only
quantity
Isaac Newton December 25 1642 March 20, 1727
o
Philosophiae Naturalis Principia
Mathematica

Absolute true and Mathematical

time, from its own nature passes
equably without relation to
anything external, and thus without
reference to any change or way of
measuring time

Independent on the
existence of matter itself

Absolute time and mathematical

time evaluate space remains
secular and immovable without
relation to anything external.
Relative spaces are measures of
absolute space defined with
references to some system of
bodies or another, and thus a
relative space may, and likely be
will place of a body is the space
which it occupies

Space is something distinct from

body and exists independently of
the existence of bodies
FIFTH LECTURE
Newtons Three Laws of Motion
Standard Model based on symmetry
mathematical obstruction
encoded in abstract math
Group theory
dependent on sets
Nothingness
making sets which has elements
mathematics was built from nothingness
and nothingness was dictated by
mathematics
SIXTH LECTURE
o

Monica Dumalaog 2014-29183

EVERY DESCRIPTION OF THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE STARTS

WITH AN ASSUMPTION
The basic assumption: OBJECTIVE REALITY EXISTS
Exists on its own; independent of anyones beliefs
and independent of the presence or absence of
observers
Elements of Newtons objective reality (absolute or
independent)
o
Time
o
Space
o
Mass

TIME
-

Flows equably without regard to anything external

Measure of duration by means of motion which is
commonly used instead of true time
ABSOLUTE
There exists a UNIVERSAL CLOCK
o
Duration of any process is the same in all
references
o

Pu240
94

SPACE
-

4
U 236
92 + He 2

They all agree on the duration of

the decay of an atom

Remains always similar and immovable

Without regard to anything external
There is a UNIVERSAL YARDSTICK
o
Length of any segment is equal
o
Length of any segment is same in any
reference frame
KINDS OF MOTION
o
Absolute Motion

Points are fixed with respect to

absolute space

Motion with respect to the fixed

absolute space
o
Relative Motion

Motion with respect to an object or

a body that is respect to a body
that is in motion with respect to
absolute space
UNIFORM MOTION
A body is in uniform motion if
o
It covers equal distances in equal intervals
of time
o
It covers the same distance with respect to
the absolute space
INERTIAL FRAME OF REFERENCE
Frame in uniform motion with respect to absolute
space
A body or system can be a reference frame
EXAMPLE: a body in uniform motion with fixed stairs
is an inertial frame
SOME INERTIAL FFRAMES OF REFERENCE
o
Direction changing in time (Ferris wheel)
o
Rate of motion changing in time (rocketship)
ACCELERATION
Any motion deviant from uniform motion is an
accelerated motion

acceleration=

v
t

Mass
-

quantity of matter that arises conjointly from its

density and magnitude
measured by weighing scales (ostensive definition of
mass)
SEVENTH LECTURE
Newtons first law
viewed in an inertial reference frame, an object
either remains at rest or continues to move at a
constant velocity unless acted upon by an external
force
NON UNIFORM MOTION
o
Constant direction with unequal distances in
equal intervals of time
o
Equal distances in equal intervals of time in
changing direction
First law defies force but does not quantify it

Newtons second law

Force is a push or pull
Force is a vector quantity
o
Force has magnitude: strength of push or
pull and Force has direction: direction of
push or pull
Length is proportional to the magnitude of force
Two or more forces may combine to form a single
force
NET FORCE or resultant force is the sum of all forces
directed upon an object
o
You can add forces if they are acting on the
same body
o
If the net force is zero, then it will not move
Force is equal to mass times acceleration
o
A body will accelerate in the direction of the
net force
If Fnet and Velocity are parallel: there is a change in
speed but no change in direction
If Fnet and Velocity are perpendicular: there is no
change in speed but there is a change in direction
If Fnet and Velocity are not perpendicular and not
parallel: there is a change in speed and change in
direction
Newtons third law
When one body exerts a force on a second body, the
second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in
magnitude and opposite in the direction of the first
body
o
Magnitudes of the different objects are
equal but opposite in direction
Problem of Mechanics
Path as a function of time
(force, location, velocity, path)
Initial conditions are uniquely dependent of the past
EIGHT LECTURE
Consequence of newtons laws
Conservation Laws
o
System that possesses some properties that
do not change in time

Law of Conservation of energy

Energy cannot be created nor

Monica Dumalaog 2014-29183

destroyed, only transformed from

one form to another.
o
Origin of conservation laws

Reformulation of Newtonian
mechanics

Principle of Least action

o
From newtons
absolutes (space,
time, mass)
o
Nature always
finds the most
efficient path
(displacement)

Path of least action

o
Path in which the
energy needed to
get from A to B is
minimum.
Joseph-Lowis Lagrange (January 25, 1736 April 10, 1817)
Reformulated Newtonian Mechanics based on the
principle of least action
Langrrangian mechanics
o
L = KE PE
o
L=TV
NEWTONIAN VS LANGRANGIAN
Newtonian one point at a time
Langrangian non loca; you may look at all particles
at a single instance
Sir Willan Rowan Hamilton (August 3 or 4 1805 Sept 2 1865)
Reformulated Newtonian and langrangian mechanics
(HAMILTONIAN MECHANICS
The basic quantity in Newtonian mechanics
o
Hamiltonian = KE + PE
o
H=T+V
PRECISE STATEMENTS OF CONSERVATION LAWS
Symmetry
Any process that preserves properties of a given
system
SPHERE rotation about any axis through the center
CYLINDER rotation parallel by the cylindrical axis,
symmetry or non-symmetrical operation: rotation
through the oblique cylindrical axis
CUBE by 90 degrees: symmetry operation; by 30
degrees: non symmetry operation
EMILY NOETHER
o
German mathematician
o
March 23, 1882 April 14, 1935
o
Noethers theorem

If a system has a symmetry

property, then the values are
corresponding quantities whose
values are conserved
CONSERVATION LAWS ARISING FROM SYMMETRY
There is no preferred spatial origin
o
Choice of origin shouldnt affect
measurements
o
A location does not influence the outcome of
your measurements
o
Conservation of linear momentum Vf=Vi
o
THERE IS NO PREFERRED ORIGIN
There is no preferred direction
o
Your orientation does not affect the outcome
of your measurements
o
Conservation of angular momentum
There is no imperial origin

When you perform your experiment, it does

not affect the outcome of your
measurements
Conservation of energy

Macrostate gives a coursegrained information about a system

MACROSTATE
MICROSTATE
Exhaustive
Partial
Ideal
Precision limited
Determined by exact Laws of
Determined by Laws of
Physics
Probability

A macrostate may contain several microstates

Multiplicity
Number of microstate in a macrostate
A macrostate arises from
o
N number of coins
o
2N number of microstates
o
(N+1) number of macrostates
o
Multiplicity of Kth microstate

o
SYMMETRIES BEYOND NEWTONIAN CONSERVATION LAWS
Standard model of particle physics
o
QUARKS AND LEPTONS

Elementary particles

Free carriers

Every particle arises from

symmetry

Mass arises from broken symmetry

Higgs boson

High energy symmetry

no mass

Low energy symmetry

with mass
LAWS OF NATURE ARE DEEPLY BASED O SYMMETRIES
NINTH LECTURE
SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS
In a spontaneous change, the universe tends to
move in a state of great disorder
The entropy of an isolated macroscopic system can
increase
o
May also decrease, but very low probability
Macroscopic system
o
Composed of a large number of constituents
ENTROPY (equilibrium)
State of a system is the minimum collection of
information that completely describes the system
within available means
o
TWO MEANS OF DESCRIBING

Microstate specifies all possible

information about a system

Monica Dumalaog 2014-29183

Omega =

N!
( K 1 ) ! ( N K +1 ) !

Probability of occurrence of a particular macrostate

o

omega( N , K )
2N

= multiplicity/number

of microstates
Entropy of a macrostate
S = Kbln(omega)
A macroscopic system always evolves towards more
disordered state
Highest entropy equilibrium state
Higher entropy, higher probability
2nd law
On a large scale, there is an average increase in
enropy
Small probability to undo something
o
Low probability, low entropy but not equal to
zero
HOW TO DETERMINE EQUILIBRIUM STATE
Determine all microstates
Determine all macrostates
Obtain largest entropy macrostate
o
Equilibrium state ( most probable state or
state with largest number of microstate)
SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS AND MAXWELLS DEMON
Gas is at uniform temp
o
Low speed low tem
o
High speed high temp
Szilard engine
o
Work is done without spending energy
o Information is a form of entropy