Wednesday, 2 April 2025

Claims in physics are always provisional?

Someone said on twitter/X 

I might be fringe here or ignorant... but I not think that ALL scientific "stuff" is provisional.

The speed of light is an absolute. The four fundamental forces are absolutes. The strength of gravity on earth (9.8m/s^2) is an absolute. For example.

Actually, this is an important point since I'm sure a lot of people are bemused when people say that claims in physics are always provisional. That they can and most probably will be upended in the future.

But the idea is that all scientific theories are provisional, not that facts about the world are provisional. Facts about the world obviously can't be provisional. I expect objects to fall when released. I expect a thrown stone to smash a window. I expect a light to go on when I flick a switch (maybe I don't expect it when saying "light on" to Alexa though 😂). And these facts appear to be eternal. Physical laws seemingly never change, although the theories explaining such laws do.

1 comment:

Clinesteron Beademungen said...

We don't actually know that the strength of gravity locally is also universal. Some explanations for the discrepancies in predicted and actual expansion of the universe postulate(d) a change in gravity elsewhere, instead of dark matter/energy.

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