【请帮忙找出下面一片文章的重难点(英语)Infact,asthe20thcenturybeganmanyscientistsreallybelievedthat,asidefromaddinganotherdecimalpointtotheprecisionofphysicalconstants,therereallywasn'tmuchworktobedone.Ph】
请帮忙找出下面一片文章的重难点(英语)
Infact,asthe20thcenturybeganmanyscientistsreallybelievedthat,asidefromaddinganotherdecimalpointtotheprecisionofphysicalconstants,therereallywasn'tmuchworktobedone.Physics,whichwouldoccupytheroleoftheprinceofsciencesformostofthiscentury,wasthenconsideredmostlygoodpreparationforworkinelectricalengineering.
Ofcourse,noteveryonewasconvincedwehadreachedtheendofthescientificroad.Asmallcadreofphysicistsbelievedsomethingofearthshakingimportancemightbelurkinginthecuriousresultsofsomeoftheirmoresubtleexperiments.Attemptstomeasuretheimpossiblyfastspeedoflight,forexample,showedthatitnevervaried,whetheryoumovedtowardorawayfromalightsource.Thiswasdeeplytroublingbecauseitdefiedthemathematicsthatdescribethebehaviorofwaves,andlightwasthenthoughttotravelinwaves.Anotherdifficultyinvolvedthelightemittedfromhigh-temperaturefurnaces.Simplyput,itwasthewrongcolor.
Initially,skepticsdismissedtheseanomaliesassloppylabwork.Butasroundafterroundofexperimentsproducedsimilarresults,adisturbingnotionbegantotakehold.Perhapsthedescriptionsofnaturethathadproducedsomuchprogressinthe19thcenturywerereallyincomplete—thetipoftheiceberg.Effortstoprobebeneaththesurfacewouldleadtothetwodefiningscientificbreakthroughsofthe20thcentury—relativityandquantumtheory.
Relativitytheorywouldredefineourconceptionofmatter,energy,spaceandtime.Quantumtheorywouldbeevenhardertodigest.Itwouldsuggest,amongotherthings,thattherulesofrealityarevariable.Thoserulesthatapplyinthehuman-scalerealmbecomenullandvoidintheheartoftheatom.Bythehalfwaypointofthecentury,thenotionoftheequivalenceofmassandenergyembodiedinrelativitytheorywouldbeputtoworkinweaponsandpowerplants.Bythethree-quartermark,quantummechanicswouldtouchourpersonallives,chieflythroughtheapplicationofthetransistor,whichwouldbeusedbythehandfulinradiosandtelevisions,andbythemillionsinpersonalcomputers.Beforetheendofthecentury,acompaniontechnologyspurredonbyquantumtheory,thelaser,wouldprovetobeoneofthemostversatileto