You might be wondering what physics has to do with a virus that has gripped the world like no other. The answer is this: through the study of physics, young people will be inspired to expand their knowledge about nature and how they can lead technological advances that will manoeuvre world economies in the near future. Moreover, by encouraging young individuals to appreciate physics a little bit more, they will be motivated to become great physicists, chemists, computer scientists, engineers, and scientists whose number one goal is to make a difference in the world. Because of this, enrolling a junior college student in H2 physics tuition will help motivate them to appreciate the subject and its benefits to society.
Physics helped the world survive a pandemic
While the first to respond to the call for help was from the biological and engineering sectors, physicists also played a vital role in the latter part of the fight against COVID-19, especially concerning fluid dynamics.
Here are three striking examples that support the fact that physics is a crucial part of solving the predicament of the latest novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.
- Understanding how humidity and temperature levels affect the spread of the virus.
Climate plays a vital role in the spread of the coronavirus because of the relationship between the virus and ambient conditions brought about by humidity and temperature. According to experts, environments with low humidity and high temperatures are the ideal conditions to minimise the spread of the virus. Researchers used the three-dimensional multiphase Eulerian-Lagrangian computational fluid dynamics solver to support this theory.
- Minimising risks through social distancing.
Social distancing has been proven to minimise the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. The generally accepted distance between two persons was announced to be two metres, which is believed to be outside the droplet projection range. However, physicists have expressed their doubts. A new study shows that the safer distance would need to be at least five metres. This was discovered after a genome sequence of the coronavirus strain was collected at this distance and was found to be identical to that from an isolated nasal swab of a patient with an active infection.
- Understanding how coronavirus survives on surfaces.
Physicists were able to apply mathematical equations to assess how the novel coronavirus survives on surfaces. They examined the drying time of respiratory droplets from infected subjects from different parts of the world, including Asia, Australia, and North America. It was discovered that the size of a typical droplet is similar to that of hair width. Some of the droplets will remain and become attached to surfaces where they landed, explaining why people can be infected by touching contaminated surfaces. This model was drawn from interface science, which is the study of two spatial regions occupied by different matters.
Conclusion
Through the study of energy, matter, and their relations, the basic health protocols observed worldwide are scientifically proven to be effective and thus, are to be observed at all times. Physics has provided experts valuable insights on how to finally put an end to the SARS-CoV-2 virus and allow populations to move forward.
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