Chapter 1, Problem 1CQ

Models are particularly useful in relativity and quantum mechanics, where conditions are outside those normally encountered by humans. What is a model?

To determine

What is a model?

Answer to Problem 1CQ

A physical model consists of a construction, representation or approximation of the behavior of a physical phenomenon by means of mathematical tools, computational simulations or hypotheses verifiable by scientific experiments.

Explanation of Solution

Introduction:

Most of the natural phenomena are complex. So developing a theory that explains accurately and has the ability to predict new unknown phenomena is not a simple task.

The physical models are necessary when the phenomenon to be studied escapes from the scale of human perception or from an adequate instrumentation to reproduce the phenomenon in its entirety. So what is sought is to understand the phenomenon by means of hypotheses and, or mathematical-computational constructions of the behavior of nature in a partial way, that is, by dividing the problem into smaller problems that are achievable or reproducible through scientific experimentation.

For example, to explain the nature of light, Newton proposed the Corpuscular Model, but it cannot explain all the phenomena related to the interference of light. Years later, Huygens proposed a model from the wave point of view that successfully explained the interference of light.

Conclusion:

A physical model consists of a construction, representation or approximation of the behavior of a physical phenomenon by means of mathematical tools, computational simulations or hypotheses verifiable by scientific experiments.