Physik

Physik, or physics, is the natural science that studies matter, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. It seeks to formulate laws and theories that describe physical phenomena across a wide range of scales, from subatomic particles to galaxies. Physik relies on observation and experiment to test predictions, and on mathematics to formulate models that can be used to make quantitative predictions. The discipline underpins many other fields, including engineering and technology, and its findings often enable practical applications while also expanding fundamental understanding.

Historically, physics emerged from natural philosophy and ancient science, matured during the scientific revolution with laws of motion and gravitation, and broadened in the 19th and 20th centuries through electromagnetism, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, and relativity. Contemporary physics includes classical branches such as mechanics, thermodynamics, acoustics, optics, and electromagnetism, and modern branches such as quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, relativity, condensed matter physics, nuclear and particle physics, atomic and molecular physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. Experimental physics involves designing and conducting measurements and experiments, developing sensors and detectors, and analyzing data. Theoretical physics develops mathematical frameworks to explain observations and to predict new phenomena, while computational physics uses simulations to study complex systems.

Physik continues to drive technological advances and provides a framework for understanding natural phenomena, from the properties of materials to the behavior of the universe. It is typically divided into theoretical and experimental tracks, with increasingly interdisciplinary connections to chemistry, biology, and information science.