Lecture-1C

The main emphasis of this course is twofold. Firstly, the experimental basis of physics. Without exception, every statement which I shall make in this course re- garding physical phenomena can be proved experimentally. Whenever I introduce a new law of physics, I shall try to describe either some simple experiment which you could perform yourselves in order to justify the law or the famous historical------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
experiment which ¯rst led scientists to postulate the law. The second point of emphasis is the quantitative nature of physics. Unlike qualitative sciences, such as zoology or psychology, which basically describe and classify phenomena, physics allows us to predict the behaviour of physical phenomena to great precision. Of course, this presupposes that we can accurately measure physical phenomena.