Some Professional activities that relate to physics Are teaching, research, nuclear physics, astrophysics, acoustics or geophysics.
The physical Is the science that studies matter, energy, time and space, properties and relationships between these four elements.
It is responsible for establishing laws that explain natural phenomena, except in the case that its molecular structure is modified. The latter is already part of the chemistry .
For centuries, physics has been considered part of mathematics, chemistry and even biology And, one of its areas, which is astronomy is studied since antiquity.
But during the Scientific Revolution of the XVII Century, physics acquires its entity as a science separated from the others.
Acquires its own methods and objects of study, hand in hand with the fundamental laws of movement and the law of universal gravitation formulated by Isaac Newton (1687) to explain that all phenomena can be seen as mechanical.
From that moment, physics develops and expands to all new areas of study.
Within the physics you can find a wide variety of work areas, according to their specialization by object of study.
Professional activities related to physics
Teaching
One of the main tasks of physicists is to train new generations of teachers and researchers.
In this sense, physics teachers practice both in schools, universities and specialized institutes. Demand in the sector has grown with the emergence of new areas of engineering and technology advancements.
Investigation
Research in physics occurs in both the public and private sectors. In the latter, this activity is more limited to the production of goods and services in most countries.
In this area, research on impact in the workplace and environment, as well as safety and hygiene studies are highlighted.
Astronaut
The astronaut is the person who is part of the crew of a space object. Although to be an astronaut you can have degrees in several areas of specialization, the physical sciences are among the careers most studied by them.
Within space study organizations, in addition to astronauts sent to missions, there are large numbers of scientists working in research, where physicists can practice their profession.
Nuclear Physicist
Nuclear physics studies the composition of the nuclei of atoms, made up of protons and neutrons.
Nuclear physicists investigate the relationships between the latter two and how they give rise to all known atomic nuclei.
Their studies allow to answer the reason of the greater presence of an element that of another in the planets or to recreate the origin of the heaviest nuclei inside the stars, inside the laboratory. In this sense, these works are closely related to astrophysics.
Also nuclear physics has made a great contribution to medicine and medical physics. In it are the specialized diagnostic studies developed by nuclear physicists such as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) for the detection of cancer, among other diseases.
Astrophysicist
The astrophysicist is dedicated to physics that is applied to astronomy. Astrophysics begins at the end of the 19th century with the observation of the decomposition of light, and the demonstration of the presence of chemical elements of the solar atmosphere in it.
In this sense, progress is made in the discovery of the composition of stars, stars, gaseous clouds, matter and space dust, and the elements that form them.
Also the astrophysicist is in charge of classifying the objects of study according to their characteristics.
Also, the explorations of the space probes allow to obtain matter of these remote objects, giving rise to great discoveries in the field of the astrophysics.
Acoustics
Acoustics is a Branch of physics That studies the sound conditions and propagation of the sound in a certain place.
In this area, physicists work in the design of control projects and sound isolation in a given space, as well as in the measurement of auditory contamination and sound impact on the environment.
Physical Optics
Physical optics is the branch of physics that studies the behavior and propagation of light, that is, from electromagnetic radiation from X-rays to microwaves.
The object of study is the photon or particle of light energy. The physical optics is responsible for explaining the relations of the photon to matter, the propagation of the rays through it and the phenomena it produces, such as reflection, refraction and diffraction of light
Atmospheric Sciences
The atmospheric sciences are also a career related to physics. On the one hand, the meteorology is in charge of the study of the weather and the predictions on the same.
In this sense, its work is used for both agriculture and city life, as well as for navigation and flights.
On the other hand, within these sciences is the climatology, which studies the long-term climate, to obtain the average measures of the meteorological phenomena and their consequences in the environment in a determined period.
The climatology also uses the studies of astrophysics, among other sciences, for their observations.
Geophysics
Geophysics is the science that studies the Earth from the physical point of view. This branch of physics is responsible for analyzing both the physical properties of the Earth's environment and the interior of the Earth.
Some areas of analysis of geophysics are seismology or study of seismic movements, volcanology or study of volcanic activity, and geomagnetism or analysis of the Earth's magnetic field.
Medical physics
Medical physics is the area of work of physics applied to medicine. This multidisciplinary profession uses physics in the development of therapies and diagnoses.
On the one hand, the medical physicist prepares the instruments of measurement of the medical variables, is in charge of the calibration of equipment and the protection of the environments exposed to the radiation.
Currently, the medical physicist is dedicated to the area of radiology, diagnostic imaging, ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging, as well as nuclear medicine, along with the nuclear physicist.
References
- National Center for Particle Physics, Astroparticles and Nuclear (CPAN). I-cpan.es.
- Fowler, Michael. "Isaac Newton". Recovered in: Galileoandeinstein.physics.virginia.edu.
- The medical physicist: Criteria and recommendations for their academic training, medical training and certification in Latin America. Recovered in: Iaea.org.