PARTICLE PHYSICS
As particles are fundamental components of our body, they are also components of our brain, which is not only the biological organ that controls instinctive behaviors to enable us to survive and prosper, but is also a device to sense reality and conduct intellectual processes, including logical reasoning, memorization, self-determination based on acquired knowledge and experience, and the development of ‘common sense’ through social interaction, etc. The particles of the human body are changing constantly, including the brain cells; what forms your body is not yours permanently. What keeps you as the entity that is known as you is the pattern of the particles and energy. And while it is constantly changing, even at this moment, so are your surroundings. Contemporary scientists have been working to define the diverse relationships between particles and their reaction to their environment, the universe.
The study of the system of particles, which is essentially the law that governs the entire universe, has only been active for the past 100 years. Until the 19th century, classical mechanics had powered the industrial revolution, and most scientists firmly believed that their fundamental formulas could describe the entire physical system of the universe. However, some scientists began to learn that their calculations did not turn out as expected when they conducted experiments at a microscopic level, and this unexpected result disturbed this belief. In addition, the traditional notion of Newtonian’s deterministic view on absolute time and space was tarnished when Einstein presented his general theory of relativity.
The theory of Einstein opened up the entirely new realm of 20th century physics, and dramatically changed previous notions of the universe. The research and experiments of Max Plank and Einstein contributed to the emergence of Quantum Mechanics; Max Plank was the first scientist to discover that energy is emitted only in finite chunks, or “quanta,” while Einstein dedicated his relativity equation to modern physics and new ways to interpret our environment, such as the relative relationship between space and time. Although Einstein had turned the opinion of physics inside-out with his general theory of relativity, he still believed that the universe was governed by certain rules produced by probability and patterns, and that in the future there would be an equation that could predict all of the incidents in the universe. Indeed, he agreed with the traditional Newtonian concept that if identical sets of experiments are held under certain defined measuring rules and environments, the outcomes of the experiments will be identical. The theory seemed to work with traditional sets of experiments, yet as technology grew exponentially, advanced devices emerged that were able to handle the microscopic subjects, such as a photon.