10 PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES RELATED TO PHYSICS - SCIENCE - 2024

Some of the professional activities that are related to physics are teaching, research, nuclear physics, astrophysics, acoustics or geophysics. Physics is the science that studies matter, energy, time and space, the properties and relationships between these four elements.

It is responsible for establishing the laws that explain natural phenomena, except in the case that its molecular structure is modified. The latter is already the province of chemistry.

For centuries physics has been considered part of mathematics, chemistry and even biology and, one of its areas, which is astronomy, has been studied since ancient times. But during the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century, physics acquires its entity as a science separate from the others.

It acquires its own methods and objects of study, hand in hand with the fundamental laws of motion and the universal law of gravitation formulated by Isaac Newton (1687) to explain that all phenomena can be seen as mechanical.

From that moment on, physics developed and expanded into all new areas of study. Within physics you can find a great variety of work areas, according to their specialization by object of study.

What professional activities are 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 work in schools, universities, and specialized institutes. Demand in the sector has grown with the emergence of new areas of engineering and advances in technology.

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, impact research in the workplace and the environment stand out, as well as safety and hygiene studies.

Astronaut

The astronaut is the person who is part of the crew of a space object. Although to be an astronaut they can have degrees in several areas of specialization, physical sciences are among the most studied careers by them.

Within the organisms of space study, in addition to the astronauts who are sent on missions, there are a large number of scientists working on 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 answering the reason for the greater presence of one element than another on the planets or recreating the origin of the heaviest nuclei within stars, within the laboratory. In this sense, these works are closely related to astrophysics.

Nuclear physics has also made a great contribution to medicine and medical physics. In it are 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 began at the end of the 19th century with the observation of the decomposition of light, and the demonstration of the presence of chemical elements in the solar atmosphere in it.

In this sense, progress is being made in the discovery of the composition of stars, stars, gaseous clouds, matter and space dust, and the elements that make them up.

The astrophysicist is also in charge of classifying the objects of study according to their characteristics.

Likewise, the explorations of space probes allow obtaining matter from these remote objects, giving rise to great discoveries in the field of astrophysics.

Acoustics

Acoustics is a branch of physics that studies sound conditions and sound propagation in a certain place.

In this area, physicists work on the design of sound insulation and control projects in a given space, as well as on the measurement of noise pollution and the impact of noise on the environment.

Physical optics

Physical optics is the branch of physics that studies the behavior and propagation of light, that is, of electromagnetic radiation from X-rays to microwaves.

The object of study is the photon or particle of light energy. Physical optics is responsible for explaining the relationships of the photon with matter, the propagation of rays through it and the phenomena that this produces, such as reflection, refraction and diffraction of light

Atmospheric sciences

Atmospheric sciences are also a physics-related career path. On the one hand, meteorology is in charge of the study of atmospheric weather and its predictions.

In this sense, their work is used both for agriculture and life in cities, as well as for navigation and flights.

On the other hand, within these sciences is climatology, which studies the long-term climate, to obtain the average measurements of meteorological phenomena and their consequences on the environment in a given period.

Climatology also uses the studies of astrophysics, among other sciences, for its observations.

Geophysics

Geophysics is the science that studies the Earth from a physical point of view. This branch of physics is responsible for analyzing both the physical properties of the terrestrial environment, as well as the interior of the Earth.

Some areas of analysis of geophysics are seismology or the study of seismic movements, volcanology or the study of volcanic activity, and geomagnetism or analysis of the Earth's magnetic field.

Medical physics

Medical physics is the work area of ​​physics applied to medicine. This multidisciplinary profession uses physics in the development of therapies and diagnostics.

On the one hand, the medical physicist prepares the instruments for measuring medical variables, is responsible for the calibration of equipment and the protection of environments exposed to radiation.

Currently, the medical physicist is dedicated to the area of ​​radiology, diagnostic imaging, ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging, as well as nuclear medicine, together with the nuclear physicist.

References

1. National Center for Particle, Astroparticle and Nuclear Physics (CPAN). i-cpan.es.
2. Fowler, Michael. "Isaac Newton". Recovered at: galileoandeinstein.physics.virginia.edu.
3. The medical physicist: Criteria and recommendations for their academic training, medical training and certification in Latin America. Recovered at: iaea.org.