• Question: Do you think there are any limits in science?

    Asked by ailbhewoo to Adam, Chris, Eleanor, Jessamyn, Sinead on 11 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Adam Murphy

      Adam Murphy answered on 11 Nov 2013:

      There definitely are!

      The speed of light is a limit, nothing can go faster than that.

      There’s also something called Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. Mr. Heisenberg says that if you know one thing really really exactly, you’re going to change how well you can know another. So if you really exactly measure the position of something, you’ll change its speed. It’s really crazy! So there’s a limit to how well we can measure something.

      What I don’t think there’s a limit to, is our understanding. I genuinely believe one day we can figure everything out! The future is going to rock!

    • Photo: Eleanor Holmes

      Eleanor Holmes answered on 21 Nov 2013:

      There are lots of limits in science.

      The speed of light and the limit of measuring things Adam has mentioned.

      There is also a limit on how cold something can be. The lowest temperature possible is called absolute zero and it is -273.15 degrees celsius (or more simple 0 Kelvin) At this temperature the electrons in a material are all in their minimum energy state and everything is very still.

      There is also a limit to the amount of energy in the universe. A very important and strong principle in science is the Conservation of Energy. It says that energy cannot be created or destroyed. So the total amount of energy in the universe will always be the same no matter what.

      So there are many limits but in a way it’s working inside these limits and discovering them and testing them where we get our best science.

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