- #1
vsage
Is Subatomic Physics a "Stamp Collection"?
The question isn't long but I hope the answers will be more elaborate than what I asked. When I was in 9th grade I was going through a large bookstore and for some reason stopped at the science section and saw Kaku's Hyperspace. I figured I might as well expand my horizons a little bit so I read it and thought the ideas in the book were really interesting (and new to a 14 year old) but I remember as the book progressed further I was bombarded with new word after new word, usually in the form of a subatomic particle and they all seemed to have no relevance to each other. I came across a quote in (I believe) that likened modern physics to a "stamp collection" with all the crazy names and properties. Anyway I guess my point is do you think this is the case? Also, who said that quote? I can't remember for the life of me since I left all my nontechnical physics books back home when I moved off to college and Google isn't being kind to me.
The question isn't long but I hope the answers will be more elaborate than what I asked. When I was in 9th grade I was going through a large bookstore and for some reason stopped at the science section and saw Kaku's Hyperspace. I figured I might as well expand my horizons a little bit so I read it and thought the ideas in the book were really interesting (and new to a 14 year old) but I remember as the book progressed further I was bombarded with new word after new word, usually in the form of a subatomic particle and they all seemed to have no relevance to each other. I came across a quote in (I believe) that likened modern physics to a "stamp collection" with all the crazy names and properties. Anyway I guess my point is do you think this is the case? Also, who said that quote? I can't remember for the life of me since I left all my nontechnical physics books back home when I moved off to college and Google isn't being kind to me.