{"id":712236,"date":"2026-06-18T21:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T21:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/712236\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T21:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T21:18:12","slug":"the-map-of-physics-animation-shows-how-all-the-different-fields-in-physics-fit-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/712236\/","title":{"rendered":"The Map of Physics: Animation Shows How All the Different Fields in Physics Fit Together"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

From Newton\u2019s mechan\u00adi\u00adcal cal\u00adcu\u00adla\u00adtions to Einstein\u2019s gen\u00ader\u00adal and spe\u00adcial rel\u00ada\u00adtiv\u00adi\u00adty to the baf\u00adfling inde\u00adter\u00admi\u00adna\u00adcy of quan\u00adtum mechan\u00adics, the dis\u00adci\u00adpline of physics has become increas\u00ading\u00adly arcane and com\u00adplex, and less and less gov\u00aderned by order\u00adly laws. This presents a prob\u00adlem for the layper\u00adson, who strug\u00adgles to under\u00adstand how New\u00adton\u00adian physics, with its pre\u00addictable obser\u00adva\u00adtions of phys\u00adi\u00adcal forces<\/a>, relates to the par\u00adal\u00adlax and para\u00addox of lat\u00ader dis\u00adcov\u00ader\u00adies. \u201cIf you don\u2019t already know physics,\u201d says physi\u00adcist Dominic Wal\u00adli\u00adman in the video above, it\u2019s dif\u00adfi\u00adcult some\u00adtimes to see how all of these dif\u00adfer\u00adent sub\u00adjects are relat\u00aded to each oth\u00ader.\u201d So Wal\u00adli\u00adman has pro\u00advid\u00aded a help\u00adful visu\u00adal aid: an ani\u00admat\u00aded video map show\u00ading the con\u00adnec\u00adtions between clas\u00adsi\u00adcal physics, quan\u00adtum physics, and rel\u00ada\u00adtiv\u00adi\u00adty.<\/p>\n

Newton\u2019s laws of motion and grav\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtion and his inven\u00adtion of cal\u00adcu\u00adlus best rep\u00adre\u00adsent the first domain. Here we see the insep\u00ada\u00adra\u00adble rela\u00adtion\u00adship between physics and math, \u201cthe bedrock that the world of physics is built from.\u201d When we come to one of Newton\u2019s less well-known pur\u00adsuits, optics, we see how his inter\u00adest in light waves antic\u00adi\u00adpat\u00aded James Clerk Maxwell\u2019s work on elec\u00adtro\u00admag\u00adnet\u00adic fields. After this ini\u00adtial con\u00adnec\u00adtion, the pro\u00adlif\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion of sub\u00addis\u00adci\u00adplines inten\u00adsi\u00adfies: flu\u00adid mechan\u00adics, chaos the\u00ado\u00adry, ther\u00admo\u00addy\u00adnam\u00adics\u2026 the guid\u00ading force\u00a0of them all is the study of ener\u00adgy in var\u00adi\u00adous states. The heuris\u00adtics of clas\u00adsi\u00adcal physics pre\u00advailed, and worked per\u00adfect\u00adly well, until about 1900, when the clock\u00adwork uni\u00adverse of New\u00adton\u00adian mechan\u00adics explod\u00aded with new prob\u00adlems, both at very large and very small lev\u00adels of descrip\u00adtion.<\/p>\n

It is here that physics branch\u00ades into rel\u00ada\u00adtiv\u00adi\u00adty and quan\u00adtum mechan\u00adics, which Wal\u00adli\u00adman explains in brief. While we are like\u00adly famil\u00adiar with the very basics of Einstein\u2019s rel\u00ada\u00adtiv\u00adi\u00adty, quan\u00adtum physics tends to get a lit\u00adtle less cov\u00ader\u00adage in the typ\u00adi\u00adcal course of a gen\u00ader\u00adal edu\u00adca\u00adtion, due to its com\u00adplex\u00adi\u00adty, per\u00adhaps, as well as the fact that at their edges, quan\u00adtum expla\u00adna\u00adtions fail. While quan\u00adtum field the\u00ado\u00adry, says Wal\u00adli\u00adman, is \u201cthe best descrip\u00adtion of the uni\u00adverse we have,\u201d once we come to quan\u00adtum grav\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtion, we reach \u201cthe giant Chasm of Igno\u00adrance\u201d that spec\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtive and con\u00adtro\u00adver\u00adsial ideas like string the\u00ado\u00adry and loop quan\u00adtum grav\u00adi\u00adty attempt to bridge.<\/p>\n

\"map-of-physics\"<\/p>\n

At the \u201cChasm of Igno\u00adrance,\u201d our jour\u00adney through the domains of physics ends, and we end up back in the airy\u00a0realm\u00a0where it all began, phi\u00adlos\u00ado\u00adphy. Those of us with a typ\u00adi\u00adcal gen\u00ader\u00adal edu\u00adca\u00adtion in the sci\u00adences may find that we have a much bet\u00adter under\u00adstand\u00ading of the field\u2019s intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adal geog\u00adra\u00adphy. As a handy reminder, you might even wish to pur\u00adchase a poster copy of Walliman\u2019s Map of Physics<\/a>, which you can see en minia\u00adture above. (It\u2019s also avail\u00adable as a dig\u00adi\u00adtal down\u00adload here<\/a>.) Just below, the charm\u00ading, laid-back physi\u00adcist takes the stage in a TEDx talk to demon\u00adstrate effec\u00adtive sci\u00adence com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtion, explain\u00ading \u201cquan\u00adtum physics for 7 year olds,\u201d or, as it were, 37, 57, or 77-year olds.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Note: An ear\u00adli\u00ader ver\u00adsion of this post appeared on our site in 2016.<\/p>\n

Relat\u00aded Con\u00adtent:<\/p>\n

The Sto\u00adry of Physics Ani\u00admat\u00aded in 4 Min\u00adutes: From Galileo and New\u00adton, to Ein\u00adstein<\/a><\/p>\n

The Feyn\u00adman Lec\u00adtures on Physics, The Most Pop\u00adu\u00adlar Physics Book Ever Writ\u00adten, Now Com\u00adplete\u00adly Online<\/a><\/p>\n

The Big Ideas of Stephen Hawk\u00ading Explained with Sim\u00adple Ani\u00adma\u00adtion<\/a><\/p>\n

An Ani\u00admat\u00aded Intro\u00adduc\u00adtion to the Life & Work of Marie Curie, the First Female Nobel Lau\u00adre\u00adate<\/a><\/p>\n

Josh Jones is a writer and musi\u00adcian based in Durham, NC.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Newton\u2019s mechan\u00adi\u00adcal cal\u00adcu\u00adla\u00adtions to Einstein\u2019s gen\u00ader\u00adal and spe\u00adcial rel\u00ada\u00adtiv\u00adi\u00adty to the baf\u00adfling inde\u00adter\u00admi\u00adna\u00adcy of quan\u00adtum mechan\u00adics, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[199,79],"class_list":["post-712236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-physics","tag-physics","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}