THEORY OF FORCES

The study of physical objects and related natural phenomena, known as physics, establishes the foundation for all the sciences. The scope of physics and the nature of the physical universe can be encompassed under four broad areas of knowledge: the nature of material objects and their structure, the forces on material objects, the nature of light and immaterial energy, and the interaction of material objects with the forms of pure energy: electric fields, magnetic fields, and radiant energy. The fourth area is the subject of this paper, and we describe it as the interaction of light and matter. Many theories that predict forces on objects have been set forth since Aristotle presented his belief that force is transmitted by direct mechanical contact. Much later, Isaac Newton presented his theory of gravitation and laws of mechanics based on the assumptions of inertial mass and gravitational force. In this way, Newton could predict the motion of objects not in direct contact, thus accounting for “action at a distance ” where no cause was specified, though Leibnitz and others considered the absence of cause to be a defect. Competing theories of force transmission are based on direct mechanical contact (Aristotle), non-causal inherent properties (Newton), Theories of Relativity (Einstein), ether theorie