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What are The Laws of Nature?

In this article, we discuss the laws of nature from the perspective of physics, chemistry, and biology.

Einstein once said that the most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible. This means that the laws of nature not only apply to Earth but to the universe. With time it has been observed that every place, every particle in the universe follows some regulations called the laws of nature.

Laws of Nature

Every particle in the universe follows a pattern, due to which the study of science is very much legitimate. This also means that every particle or object does not work independently. The laws of physics are the fundamental laws of nature that tell us about the properties of particles like protons and electrons and the forces that govern them. It would be impossible for someone to understand the universe without laws.

Laws of Physics

  • The most basic and bottom layer laws of nature are the laws of physics. 
  • Holmes’s laws tell us about how the current, voltage, and resistance are related to each other and how they form an electric circuit. 
  • It is believed that all the laws are derived from more fundamental laws of physics, and with time, more and more discovery of these laws keeps happening. 
  • It is also believed that there are a set of equations or laws, which are considered the standard laws for all the rest of the laws, and all the other laws can be derived from them. 
  • At times the independence of the laws of nature is questioned, whether there is only one standard law or are there a set of independent laws.

Laws of Biology

  • One of the basic laws of biology is the law of evolution. Unlike the laws of physics, it does not describe an equation or some variable and constants that describe evolution. 
  • The concept of evolution is very intuitive to the law. It shows how things will be with the passage of time, how some species might or might not change, and how the species compete with each other. It seems as if the law of evolution came out or arose due to a set of facts that were known.

Laws of Chemistry

  • In chemistry, the laws of nature are viewed as a set of observations that were made from nature. They are more like a summary of the behaviour of things in nature. 
  • So, based on these observations, there are certain assumptions. 
  • Firstly, an experiment is conducted under a certain set of conditions, based on which certain observations are made, which are named hypotheses. Then, if these behaviours and hypotheses are universal or come true in many cases, they are called theories. 

Origin of Laws of Nature

The universe was not made yesterday. It has existed for billions of years, and so have the laws of nature. No one formulated these laws of nature; they just exist as the universe does. 

Some might get confused that if these laws are inevitable, then how come they are represented in mathematical equations? How did nature know this maths? Maths was not discovered. Rather, it was invented for a better understanding of the laws. So, nature does not follow these equations. Rather these equations are an imprint of the greater reality that exists out there. 

Now attempts are being made to form an ultimate mathematical model that would clearly represent the universe’s functionality. Scientists do not believe in the existence of an ultimate law. They believe that the current laws of nature are an output of what happened in our universe in the past. If things were different from what actually happened, these laws might have differed. This means that the laws of nature can change with time.

Conclusion

Laws of nature are seen as a pattern or an observation that was made by performing certain experiments. These patterns are true for everything that exists in this universe. Some believe that these laws were formed with the formation of the current universe we live in. If the current universe had been formed in a different way, the laws might have been different. The laws of nature were discussed from the perspective of physics, chemistry, and biology, which are thought to be the building blocks of science.

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