Physics can be described simply as the study of our universe and the rules of our universe, technically speaking physical laws, are almost all written down in the form of equations. What makes an equation beautiful? This moves away from the empirical fact of whether the equation works, whether it predicts experimental data, to something more personal and subjective. Below are top ten equations which made Physics awesome and brought us closer to understanding the enigma called “the Universe”.
- Einstein’s Energy-Mass Equivalence
A consequence of Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity and the most famous equation in physics. This equation states that mass (m) and energy (E) are equivalent. The relation is very simple, only involving multiplication of mass by a very large number (c is the speed of light). Specifically, this equation first showed that even mass not in motion has an intrinsic “rest” energy. It has since been used in nuclear and particle physics. The biggest impact of this equation and perhaps the event that secured its legacy was the development and subsequent use of atomic bombs at the end of WW2. These bombs horrifically demonstrated the extraction of a huge amount of energy from a tiny amount of mass.
2. Newton’s Second Law:
One of the oldest physics equations, formulated by Sir Isaac Newton in his famous book Principia in 1687. It is the cornerstone of classical mechanics, which allows the motion of objects subjected to forces to be calculated. Force (F) is equivalent to mass (m) multiplied by the acceleration of the mass (a). The underline notation indicates a vector, which has both a direction and a magnitude. This equation is now the first to be learnt by every physics student due to it only requiring basic mathematical knowledge but at the same being very versatile. It has been applied to a huge number of problems from the motion of cars all the way up to the orbits of the planets around our sun. It was only usurped by the theory of quantum mechanics in the early 1900s.
3. The Schrödinger Equation(s)
Quantum mechanics was the biggest shake up in physics since Newton formulated the foundations of classical mechanics and the Schrödinger equation, formulated by Erwin Schrödinger, one of the most influential physics geniuses of his time, in 1926.The equation introduced us to the mysterious world of quantum mechanics, which, apart from being heavily used in some of the best sci fi movies, also made us rethink all of modern physics. The equation incorporates two key concepts of quantum mechanics: the wave function (ψ) and operators (anything with a hat over it) which operate on a wave function to extract information. The operator used here is the hamiltonian (H) and extracts the energy. There are two versions of this equation, depending on whether the wave function varies in time and space or just in space. Although quantum mechanics is a complicated topic, these equations are elegant enough to be appreciated without any knowledge. They are also a postulate of quantum mechanics, a theory which is one of the pillars of our modern electronic technology.
4. Maxwell’s Laws
Maxwell’s laws are a collection of four equations that were brought together and used to formulate a unified description of electricity and magnetism by scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell in 1862. They were since refined, using calculus, into the most elegant form shown below or technically speaking in “differential form”. The first equation relates the flow of electric field (E) to the charge density (ρ). The second law states that magnetic fields (B) have no monopoles. Whereas electric fields can have a source of positive or negative charge, such as an electron, magnetic fields always come with a north and south pole and hence there is no net “source”. The last two equations show that a changing magnetic field creates an electric field and vice versa.
5. Second Law of Thermodynamics
Not an equality but an inequality, stating that the entropy (S) of our universe always increases. Entropy can be interpreted as a measure of disorder, hence the law can be stated as the disorder of the universe increasing. An alternative view of the law is heat only flows from hot to cold objects. As well as practical uses during the industrial revolution, when designing heat and steam engines, this law also has profound consequences for our universe.
6. The Wave Equation
The wave equation is a 2nd order partial differentiation equation that describes the propagation of waves. It relates the change of propagation of the wave in time to the change of propagation in space and a factor of the wave speed (v) squared. This equation isn’t as groundbreaking as others on this list but it is elegant and has been applied to things such as sound waves (instruments etc.), waves in fluids, light waves, quantum mechanics and general relativity.
7. The Einstein Field Equations
It gives the fundamental reason for gravity, mass curving spacetime (a four dimensional combination of 3D space and time).This theory completely changed our understanding of the universe and has since been experimentally validated, a beautiful example being the bending of light around stars or planets.
8. Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle
Introduced by Werner Heisenberg in 1927, the uncertainty principle is a limit on quantum mechanics. It states that the more certain you are about a particle’s momentum (P) the less certain you are about the particle’s position (x) ie. momentum and position can never both be known exactly.
9. Quantisation of Radiation
A law initially introduced by Max Plank to solve a problem with black body radiation (specifically to do with efficient light bulbs) that led to quantum theory. This law states that electromagnetic energy can only be emitted/absorbed in specific (quantised) amounts. This is now known to be due to electromagnetic radiation not being a continuous wave but actually many photons, “packets of light“. The energy of a photon (E) is proportional to the frequency (f). At the time it was only a mathematical trick used by Plank to solve a frustrating problem and he both considered it unphysical and struggled with the implications. However, Einstein would link this concept to photons and this equation is now remembered as the birth of quantum theory.
10. Boltzmann Entropy
A key equation for statistical mechanics formulated by Ludwig Boltzmann. It relates the entropy of a macrostate (S) to the number of microstates corresponding to that macrostate (W). A microstate describes a system by specifying the properties of each particle, this involves microscopic properties such as particle momentum and particle position. A macrostate specifies collective properties of a group of particles, such as temperature, volume and pressure. The key thing here is that multiple different microstates can correspond to the same macrostate. Therefore, a simpler statement would be that the entropy is related to the arrangement of particles within the system (or the ‘probability of the macrostate’). This equation can then be used to derive thermodynamic equations such as the ideal gas law.
