Disadvantages of modern physics textbooks

load the textbook >>

The nonexistence of matter that does not carry charge allowed us to answer the question of why collapse of the masses does not occur.

The generalization of the research results, in the field of both physics and chemistry, shows that the electromagnetic interactions can be considered the basis for building a unified field theory. 

The achievements of the second half of the XX century offer the opportunity to eliminate the following drawbacks of modern textbooks. 

1. Educations golden rule – that new knowledge must build upon knowledge previously acquired by students –has been broken. An example of that elements of the theory highschool textbooks; whereas the mathematical tools required for these subjects, are not taught until third and fourth year university courses of mathematics.

2. Textbooks include theories and principles that are being debated in the educational community. An example of such a theory or principle is the Heisenberg indeterminacy principle, which prevails in quantum mechanics. Even after 30 years of their famous debate on the fundamentals of quantum mechanics, Einstein and Bohr maintained their different opinions.

3. The explanation of some physical phenomena is given on the basis of incorrect theories.

Examples of such incorrect theories are Newtonian gravitation theory, the theory of the electrical conductivity of metals, the superconductivity theory, the explanation of the annihilation of oppositely charged particles with the formation of photons and the decomposition of photons to produce charged particles under irradiation.

In the reaction of photon decay to produce positron and an electron under irradiation of quantum of light, and in the reverse reaction, the Coulomb energy is not considered. However, mathematical calculations confirming this phenomenon converge to the fourth sign. This experiment, according to the history of physics, is the only quantitative confirmation of the most famous equation of the 20^th century, E = mc².

4. A number of physical phenomena (theories) that appeared in the late twentieth century and have been recognized are not included in textbooks. Examples of such new theories are the theories of electrical conductivity of metals and the superconductivity theory, a new explanation of the structure of atoms and molecules and the theory of chemical reactions. 

Laws, postulates, principles are introduced ad hoc, i.e. without mechanisms.

Over the past 300 years, Newton’s basic paradigm (“I do not invent hypotheses”) has changed. At present, this paradigm is formulated as follows: “There is as much science in science as there is mathematics in science.” So far, a deeper understanding of phenomena is limited by the writing of the equations describing the dependences observed in the course of an experiment. The Boltzmann equations, Ohm's law and almost all of the equations given in modern textbooks were created in such a way. The situation is similar with the principles and postulates. Some examples are the equivalence principle, the uncertainty principle and the Bohr postulate.

In the course of our work to attain a deeper understanding of the subject, we came to the conclusion that the so-called mathematical approach to physics was conditioned by the historical period, the transition from religious and declarative explanations to the scientific ones, the lack of experimental data on the structure of matter, the belief in figures of authority (especially Newton) and the inertia of thinking. Our research has shown that the approach to the natural sciences should be changed.

The deeper understanding, the transition from memorization to understanding goes through the following stages:

• experiment (empirical data),
• determination of the cause-effect relations,
• mathematical treatment without any additional qualitative assumptions, if the phenomenon in question allows it.

Before the advent of quantum mechanics and relativity theory, school-level  mathematics was used: arithmetic, algebra and Euclidean geometry. Pseudo-mathematical deviations from mathematics were part of the fundamentals of quantum mechanics and relativity – that is, both the Heisenberg uncertainty principle and the Schroedinger equation, as well as the postulates of the relativity theory.

In fact, there is no cause-effect relationship between mathematics and the natural sciences; there is only religious one. No explanation of the mechanism by means of mathematics in the natural sciences has been proposed since Newton’s time. Mathematics is only a tool for the natural sciences. 

New textbooks must be based on a new principle: there is as much science in natural science as there is science actually in it, in chemistry – chemistry, in physics – physics.

There are many roads in science. In order to compare different approaches to the study of physics, we will use the popular Russian textbook “The Feynman Lectures on Physics” [1]. It is one of the best courses of elementary physics and has enormous popularity. The advantage of the course is the depth of the presentation of the physical side of the considered processes and phenomena in nature and technology. 

A number of other explanations of physical phenomena, including criticism of theories (except new explanations) which preceded them, are presented in more detail in our books [How chemical bonds form and chemical reaction proceed, Gankin V.Y.& Gankin Y.V. ; General Chemistry. Twenty first century, Gankin V.Y.& Gankin Y.V.] and published on this website.