The Physics of Everyday Life
Introduction
We live in a world ruled by invisible laws of physics—even when we don’t notice them.
Today, in this article, I am going to share my favorite subject. I mean, why not? It is such a legendary subject. I have mentioned a few phenomena that occur in nature often, but we do not know the physics behind them. Even I had to study them beforehand. I am trying to be Newton here, lol. And one more thing, damn you if you say physics is boring.
Now, let’s begin.
Why Don’t We Feel the Earth Spinning?
I am beginning with one of the most famous questions. It’s one of my favorite questions since childhood. I remember in sixth grade, I asked my teacher, “Why don’t we feel the Earth spinning?” My teacher explained the concept to me. I understood some of it, but the real understanding came when one of my physics teachers in ninth grade explained it in detail, and that really made me fall in love with the subject.
The Earth is spinning incredibly fast, around 1600 km/h at the equator. Yet, strangely enough, we do not feel any of it.
Here’s why. Physics says we only feel changes in motion, which is acceleration, not steady, uniform motion. This is Newton’s First Law of Motion, inertia. You do not feel motion in a smooth airplane flying at a constant speed, but the moment it turns or accelerates, you notice it. The same goes for Earth. Everything around us, air, oceans, you, me, is moving along with the Earth at the same speed. There is no relative motion for us to notice, so it feels like we are standing still.
Why Is the Sky Blue?
Second question, why is the sky blue? The answer is light. Yes, those electromagnetic waves. It is a phenomenon created by them.
White sunlight is actually made of all the colors of the rainbow. When sunlight enters Earth’s atmosphere, it interacts with molecules and tiny particles in the air. Shorter wavelengths like blue and violet scatter more than longer ones like red. This is called Rayleigh scattering (scattering of light).
Now, why do we not see a violet sky? Two reasons.
Our eyes are more sensitive to blue than violet.
Much of the violet light gets absorbed by the upper atmosphere.
At sunrise or sunset, sunlight travels a longer path through the atmosphere, scattering away most of the blue. That is why the sky glows in shades of red, orange, and pink.
Why Don’t We Sink Through the Floor?
Here is a mind bender. The atoms in your body never actually “touch” the atoms in the floor. So why do you not fall straight through?
The reason is electromagnetic force. The negatively charged electrons in your body repel the electrons in the floor. This creates an illusion of solidity. What you feel as “standing on the floor” is actually your electrons refusing to overlap with the electrons beneath you.
So, solidity is not about matter stacking neatly. It is really about fields repelling each other at the quantum level.
Why Do We See Lightning Before Thunder?
This one is a classic. When a thunderstorm strikes, we see the flash of lightning almost instantly, but the sound comes later.
That is because light is ridiculously fast, 3 × 10⁸ m/s, while sound is comparatively slow at around 343 m/s in air. So, the flash reaches your eyes long before the sound waves reach your ears.
Why Does Hot Coffee Cool Down?
This question demands a bit of understanding of thermodynamics. Your cup of steaming hot coffee never stays hot forever. Why? The universe does not like energy staying concentrated.
Heat naturally flows from hotter objects to cooler surroundings until everything balances out. This is the Second Law of Thermodynamics at work. The rate of cooling is explained by Newton’s Law of Cooling, which basically says the hotter your coffee compared to the room, the faster it loses heat.
Entropy, the tendency for disorder, also plays a role. Heat spreads out, and in the end, your coffee reaches the same temperature as the room.
Why Do We Get Dizzy After Spinning?
Now, this is also a type of question I asked my parents in my childhood. I did not get the answer at that time. Later on, I came to know about it.
Inside your inner ear are tiny semicircular canals filled with fluid. They are your personal motion detectors, helping you balance.
When you spin, the fluid inside also moves. But when you stop suddenly, the fluid keeps swirling for a bit, tricking your brain into thinking you are still spinning. That mismatch between what your eyes see, you have stopped, and what your inner ear feels, you are still spinning, makes you dizzy.
Conclusion
In short, you may not love the equations, but hey, without physics you would not even be scrolling this blog on your phone. Physics is everywhere, from the blueness of the sky to the dizziness after a spin.
Do watch Oppenheimer and Interstellar if you want to see physics in action. Also, I love reading physics books. That is why it is easier for me to understand the concepts. Solving problems and reading books is the way, but most importantly, feeling physics makes the difference.
tbh physics is good. You are missing a hell lot of knowledge if you are not going through it. The next time you see a sunset, remember there is physics around it. Well, this is it.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world.” ~ Albert Einstein
See you in the next one❤️.