Fluid mechanics—This is the study of air, water, and other fluids in motion. It
includes the mathematics of turbulence, wave propagation, and so on.
Geophysics—This is a geological study with a physics basis. Much of the field is
dominated by the mathematics of large scale movement of materials, such as earth-
quakes, volcanic activity, and fluid mechanics (for example, underground molten vol-
canic material).
Optics—This is the mostly mathematical study of the propagation and evolution
of electromagnetic waves, such as diffraction and the path of light rays. Optics
requires a great knowledge of geometry and trigonometry, not to mention complex
equations.
CHEMISTRY AND MATH
What is chemistry?
Chemistry is the science of matter. It studies the composition, structure, and proper-
ties of substances (matter) and its reactions and changes. Because chemistry includes
all materials in the universe, it is useful for studying many things—from the chemical
composition of gases in galaxies to the chemical reactions within living cells. It also
includes mathematics in many forms, such as when determining chemical composi-
tions and understanding relationships between certain chemicals. 283
MATH IN THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES
How do quantum physicists regard light waves?
A
dded to the mix of the mathematically rich quantum theory was an idea
developed by French physicist Prince Louis Victor Pierre Raymond de
Broglie (1892–1987), who discovered the wave nature of electrons and of parti-
cles in general (and also devised a mathematical explanation of the kinetic theo-
ry of heat). He determined that not only do light waves often exhibit particle-like
properties, but particles also often exhibit wave-like properties.This opened a can of quantum worms. From there, two different formula-
tions of quantum mechanics developed. First was the wave mechanics of Austrian
physicist Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961), who used a mathematical entity (the
wave function) related to the probability of finding a particle in space at a given
point. Schrödinger also developed a model of the atom that differed from the tra-
ditional Niels Bohr model. Second and mathematically equal to Schrödinger’s
theory was the matrix mechanics of German physicist Werner Karl Heisenberg
(1901–1976).