Examples of Physical Phenomena

Syed Ali1 week agoLast Updated: April 11, 2024

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We explain that what are examples of Physical Phenomena? A physical phenomenon is an event that occurs due to physical laws . Everything in the universe, such as matter and energy, is affected by one of these and it always goes from an initial state to a final state . This means that there is always a change, reality is constantly transformed.

Characteristics of a physical phenomena

An event is named as a physical phenomena when it meets any of the following characteristics:

Causes a body to change position or place .
Due to it, the temperature in a system changes, whether it increases or decreases.
Due to it, the volume of a system changes, whether it is increased or decreased.
Because of it, the pressure in a system changes, whether it increases or decreases.
It helps two types of matter to mix or stay apart .
When it happens in matter, it remains whole and its nature remains the same . It just ends up, for example, with a different size, or in a different moving situation. This variation is called physical change.
It happens involving a type of energy.
It can be reversible, that is, it is possible to reverse the process to obtain the initial conditions. However, in industrial practice only the result is pursued.

Types of physical phenomena

Physical phenomena can be classified into the following two categories:

Natural
Artificial or induced

Natural physical phenomena

Natural physical phenomena are those that occur due to the constant activity of the universe, and are governed by its true consequences.

For example:

Movement: It is the change of place or position of a body. It is of different types according to the trajectory that the body marks in the process.
Uniform rectilinear motion: A body travels from the initial point to the final point with a straight line trajectory, at a constant speed.
Acceleration: It is the increase or decrease in the speed that a body takes on its way.
Free fall: It is the movement of a body that has been released from a high point to a low point, which goes in a straight line and accelerates at 9.81m / s ² due to the action of gravity.
Evaporation: It is when a liquid substance heats up enough to start turning into vapor. This phenomenon is part of the water cycle and occurs in bodies such as seas, oceans, rivers.
Condensation: This is when a vapor gets cold enough to start turning into liquid particles. It is the inverse phenomenon of evaporation and is also part of the water cycle; occurs when steam rises into the sky to become clouds.
Freezing: It is when a liquid substance cools down enough to begin to crystallize and form a solid. It is another stage of the water cycle, in which rain falls on high mountains where temperatures are low.
Sound: They are waves of different frequencies that travel through the air and are perceived through the ear, allowing us to appreciate the world around us and also the communication between two points at a certain distance.
Doppler effect: It is the apparent change in frequency of a wave due to the variation in the distance between the source of the wave and the observer. It happens with ambulances or any siren. How they sound depends on how close they are to us and how far away they are.
Light: Behaving like a visible electromagnetic wave and even as particles called photons, light is the radiation that allows us to perceive the world around us through sight. It affects the entire planet from our central star, the sun.
Heat: Heat is the transfer of thermal energy from a hot system or medium to a cold one. It is present in the solar system; the star king transmits its heat towards the planets that travel its orbits.
Mixture: When two or more substances are physically involved and their particles alternate with each other creating a mixed substance, they create a mixture. It has properties of both participating materials, which are not altered in their chemical nature. It is possible, for example, to prepare a mixture of water with salt and later bring it to a boil to get the salt back.
Magnetism: It is the attraction exerted by magnetite (an iron mineral with the formula Fe ₃ O ₄ ) on more metals or iron minerals, due to the fact that it has magnetic poles.

Artificial or induced physical phenomena

Artificial or induced physical phenomena are those that occur because an apparatus or human influence has been applied to produce an effect. They are generally more intense than natural ones and are aimed at achieving a purpose.

For example:

Circular motion: It is the constant displacement of a body whose trajectory marks a circumference.
Centripetal force: It is the attraction that an object has towards the center of the circumference when it has a circular motion.
Centrifugal force: It is the repulsion that tries to move the object away by the impulse it carries, while it has a circular motion.
Parabolic movement: It is the displacement of a body when it has been thrown diagonally, and describes a trajectory in the form of a curve or parabola, due to the action of gravity on it.
Heating: It is to use a device or a combustion to direct the thermal energy towards a target. It is used for cooking, concentrating the heat in the pan.
Cooling: It is using a device to absorb the thermal energy of a body and, in this way, lower its temperature. In refrigerators and freezers this phenomenon occurs; a gas such as freon is used, which expands when it receives heat from food. With a compressor this capacity is returned and the process continues in cycles.
Dilation of metals: When heat is introduced to a solid metal, it will tend to increase in length or volume, since its atoms will be more agitated, with greater kinetic energy. This can be achieved by means of a flame or an electrical resistance close to the metal.
Pressurization: It is increasing the pressure within a system. This is the case of car or bicycle tires, which are injected with air by means of a compressor and a hose.
Expansion: When a gas is heated, it tends to have more kinetic energy in its particles. This results in an expansion, that is, they will move further apart. They will cover a larger volume.
Compression: It is when the volume of a container filled with gas is intentionally reduced, forcing this substance to occupy less volume. This results in more pressure in there.
Lighting: This phenomenon occurs when an artificial light source is placed in a dark environment. For example, when turning on the electric light bulb in the room at night.
Electric current: It is the flow of electrons through a conductor, which can be a metal or an aqueous solution with ions.
Electromagnetism: It is to produce a magnetic field through an electrical conductor. A copper wire wound (wound on itself in the shape of a ring) in which an electric current is introduced from a source, produces a magnetic field in turn.