Dear Sirs,
The physical line (or its segment) is the light (or electromagnetic radiation of any other frequency) raw by the definition. Maybe there are other determinations? Like it is a trajectory of a beam of, say, protons, neutrons? How do physicists determine it and how does it relate to mathematical determination of straight line?
Could you give the references on this subject?
This is a very good question.
A thorourgh introduction to lines from a physics perspective is given in
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257570610_Comparing_student_understanding_of_line_graph_slope_in_physics_and_mathematics
See Figures 1 and 2, starting on page 8.
Article Comparing student understanding of line graph slope in physi...
A trajectory of particle s only significant only size of Newtonian objects. But particles like things have no meaning about their trajectories according to quantum physics.Hove ever thous theories are les important when you are in open-mind !. Those theories are just mental constructions !. But they have some use in practices with in some limitations. good luck !
The "nature" of the straight line depends on the space on which it is drawn. And from observation it seems that "nature" of the space is determined by the order of its scale. For example, at the scale of the size of the observable universe, the geometry is Euclidean-flat to a larger extent. So a straight line is "actually" flat and straight. On the other hand at the scale of the size of stars, space is curved in the presence of massive bodies and so the "apparent" straight line is curved too. At the order of size of elementary particles, the space becomes exotic, thats why 1/2 spin fermions such as elctrons have to rotate by 2*360 = 720 degrees to restore back to the original angular orientation. This is why such particle are said to have an "inherent" spin and so, they live in their own space! No idea what a straight line will look like in a fermionic space!
Simple example, a straight line drawn on a piece of paper is flat, but on a football it is curved!
Hope that clarifies!
I asked for different method of measurements of distance along straight line. Could anybody list these methods of measurements? I.e. how can we create a measuring ruler?
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Physics