Physics as a Language: Communicating Complex Ideas

It has been said that “[physics] is written in the language of mathematics” (Galileo, The Assayer, 1623). I think that’s partially true.

I often remark that physicists invented mathematics (partially in jest, but only partially), and that mathematics is a blunt tool used by physicists. But mathematics isn’t the only language physicists speak. In order to communicate ideas, we need more than just mathematics. We need to connect and communicate mathematics with the most defective and deficient communicative tool there is: words.

The power of words

Ah words, so many languages, and each a work in progress. Languages are dynamic, living entities. They move with populations, breathe life into the arts, respond to their environments, grow and expand, reproduce with other languages to form amalgams, feed off the will of those who wield them and, occasionally, produce crap (I’m looking at you, Gen Z, no cap, fr fr, I’ll proudly embrace being cheugy, bet!) For those students of the lesser sciences, I was describing languages using the characteristics of living things.

I joke with my students that my first language is BASIC. Indeed, coding languages are unambiguous, which I find appealing. In truth, I have only been coding in BASIC since I was eight years old, but communicating in English for far longer. Well, a dialect of English anyway, mostly spoken in Essex. Most English-speakers can understand what I say.

Physics is a tricky subject, often ranking as amongst the most challenging subjects to choose for A-Levels (although I daresay I’d have struggled far more had I chosen A-Level French or art or English Literature). My personal opinion is that Physics is a remarkably straightforward subject, as long as it is approached with a keen awareness that what is being studied is actually a language in disguise.

Physics is a language in disguise

That’s right, Physics is a language (or perhaps I should call it a dialect, because there are physicists who communicate in languages other than English). I was discussing this issue with a colleague of mine who is a fluent French speaker, and it turns out the issues I’m about to talk about apply to French-physics just as they do to English-physics, and presumably other languages too. The problem is how to unambiguously communicate technical ideas with a language that evolved to have subtle differences in meanings between similar words. Even where the emphasis is placed in a sentence changes the perceived intention of the speaker, so how can English (or any language) be used reliably to communicate ideas that are entirely objective?

The answer is: we take already existing words and repurpose them, tightening up their definitions. To become proficient in physics, one must master mathematics but also master the physics dialect of the local language, which for me is English.

There are lots of words that mean something specific to a physicist. Maybe I shouldn’t use the word specific in that context, because to a physicist that means ‘divided by something, usually mass’. Let’s try that again…

There are lots of words that mean something particular to a physicist, distinct to a physicist, well-defined to a physicist. Here’s the problem; to communicate ideas, we have to be able to use English (or our chosen language) colloquially and technically, alternating between the two but knowing when a word is being used colloquially or technically by context.

Consider a list of specific charges of different particles. Perhaps we want to refer to one in particular. We might point to one and remark, “that specific specific charge.” Yikes! The first ‘specific‘ is being used colloquially, the second technically. Specific charge is the charge of a particle divided by the mass of the particle.

Sometimes Physicists use colloquialisms, just to confuse you

It gets worse. Someone who hasn’t been educated in physics might confuse mass and weight. Then, after 11 years of compulsory education they ought to know the technical definitions of each, but then after studying physics at university technical language gets sloppy again and physicists talk about ‘heavy particles‘ meaning particles of high mass. The word ‘gravity‘ is understood to mean ‘gravitational force‘ to students up to age 15 or 16, but then students learn about gravitational potential, gravitational fields strength, gravitational potential gradient, gravitational force, universal gravitational constant, gravitational potential energy, and now the word ‘gravity‘ is just too vague. So at A-Level we insist on using the full name for the force of gravity, and not abbreviating it to just ‘gravity‘. Then graduate astrophysicists use the word ‘gravity‘ to mean gravitational force and it’s fine.

Graduate particle physicists refer to particle masses in MeV units, but technically it should be MeV/c² units. They get lazy, cut corners, but it’s understood by their peers. You can’t get away with that at A-Level.

So physics is a difficult subject because one must master the physics dialect and use it alongside colloquialisms in a way that peers and examiners can understand unambiguously.

Can I help?

To help, I’ve been recording a series of tongue-in-cheek videos where I share the physics dialect definitions of various English words. Of course, you’ll notice that I use English colloquialisms in the definitions, but that’s part of the fun; learning when to be colloquial and when to be technical.

I’ve been uploading the videos to YouTube. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Threads. Hopefully you’ve seen them and enjoyed them. I really do not like TikTok. I don’t use it but since uploading to it I’ve seen some horrible things shared on there. I’d advise all students to get off short-form video apps such as TikTok, they are highly addictive echo chambers that corrode ambition and corrupt creative thought. There are so many wonderful long videos on YouTube, I wrote a blog post about some excellent channels. Creators such as Veritasium produce excellent documentaries that I think are essential viewing for students of physics. Hopefully my short-form video series will prod students in the direction of some of those excellent longer videos. I’ve got over 800 videos on my own channel, covering a huge range of physics topics.

Are there any English words that you know are used as technical words in Physics and would like me to define for you? Let me know in the comments below! Chances are, they’re already on my list, but if not, I’ll add them!

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