The 10 branches of physics and their fields of knowledge
Einstein, Planck, the Curie, Bohr, Tesla, Faraday, Hertz, Newton, Hawking, Galileo Galilei ... all of them are great scientists highly recognized by the majority of society, regardless of whether or not they know the type of studies they carried out exactly. In addition to recognition, all of them also have another common characteristic: they were all physicists who introduced or popularized new theories or concepts in order to explain different phenomena of reality.
However, not all of them specialized in the same fields. And there are many branches of physics , responsible for investigating different aspects of reality. In this article we intend to make a brief mention of some of the most important branches of this discipline, in order to observe the large number of elements it explores.
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Physics as a pure science
Physics is one of the pure sciences or natural sciences, which purport to offer an explanation of why the world works as it does. Concretely physics study the properties of energy, matter, space and time and how these and other forces interact and affect each other.
The history of physics is long and convulsive, being in fact one of the first sciences to emerge. You can distinguish a large number of periods, highlighting three large conglomerates; classical physics (responsible for studying the behavior and properties of visible matter at speeds lower than the two light emails), modern physics (which appears with Planck and the beginning of quantum physics and which explores the behavior of particles at speeds equal or superior to those of light or the relations between forces such as gravity or electromagnetism) and contemporary physics (specializing in nonlinear phenomena, the spatio-temporal distortions caused by celestial bodies and subparticles and their behavior).
But as we said before and as you can guess by the division in stages this discipline not only works a concrete aspect of reality , but it can be applied to various areas. And we can talk about different branches of physics, some of which we will present in this article.
The various branches of physics
Here we present briefly some of the main branches of physics.
1. Mechanics
This branch of physics studies the movement of objects in space or the effect of different forces about them. It is probably one of the branches of physics most often identified as such.
2. Thermodynamics
Branch of physics focused on the study of all those phenomena linked to temperature, its variations, the generation and transmission of heat energy and the effects that these changes generate on bodies.
3. Optics
Optics can be understood as the physical study of the phenomena linked to light energy . The behavior and properties of light (for example, diffraction, polarization or dispersion), their interaction and effects on bodies or even their perception by human beings are studied. Also, observe the light as a particle and as a wave at a time.
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4. Acoustics
Part of the physics responsible for the study of sound, its measurement, its properties and effects on bodies. Also their perception and behavior in different media.
5. Electromagnetism
Part of the physics that studies electromagnetic phenomena. It includes the combined study of electricity and magnetism, since it has been shown that both concepts are related. But nevertheless You can also study one of these phenomena separately .
6. Mechanics of fluids
Although we have previously mentioned mechanics as a branch of physics, you can find several types of mechanics with differential characteristics. In the case of fluid mechanics, the object of study is the properties and behavior of fluids, both liquids and gases.
7. Quantum mechanics
One of the most recent branches of physics and one of the most interesting today, quantum mechanics is based on the study of behavior, properties and interactions of atoms and subatomic particles .
8. Nuclear physics
Largely linked to the previous one, nuclear physics studies the energy and the effects of the union or division of atoms.
9. Astrophysics
Physics also participates in the search for an explanation regarding the phenomena that happen beyond our planet . Specifically, astrophysics is a branch of physics that is responsible for the study of celestial bodies from the analysis of their properties and behavior.
10. Biophysics
Physics has also been used in the study of living beings and their properties, always its objective to explain the physical functioning of organisms and the use of energy by them.
