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100-512: It is the host to approximately 15,000 students a year, who visit it in school-organized trips and summer camps. Students at CIMI learn marine biology through activities such snorkeling, scuba diving, sailing, hiking, marine science labs, kayaking and squid dissections. CIMI operates out of three facilities on Catalina Island: Toyon Bay (A private beach three miles northwest of Avalon , also known as Whites Landing. ), Fox Landing (Slightly north of Whites Landing ) , and Cherry Cove (a camp owned by

200-499: A Platonist by Stephen Hawking , a view Penrose discusses in his book, The Road to Reality . Hawking referred to himself as an "unashamed reductionist" and took issue with Penrose's views. Mathematics provides a compact and exact language used to describe the order in nature. This was noted and advocated by Pythagoras , Plato , Galileo, and Newton. Some theorists, like Hilary Putnam and Penelope Maddy , hold that logical truths, and therefore mathematical reasoning, depend on

300-488: A frame of reference that is in motion with respect to an observer; the special theory of relativity is concerned with motion in the absence of gravitational fields and the general theory of relativity with motion and its connection with gravitation . Both quantum theory and the theory of relativity find applications in many areas of modern physics. While physics itself aims to discover universal laws, its theories lie in explicit domains of applicability. Loosely speaking,

400-844: A backbone, make up a huge portion of all life in the sea. Invertebrate sea life includes Cnidaria such as jellyfish and sea anemones ; Ctenophora ; sea worms including the phyla Platyhelminthes , Nemertea , Annelida , Sipuncula , Echiura , Chaetognatha , and Phoronida ; Mollusca including shellfish , squid , octopus ; Arthropoda including Chelicerata and Crustacea ; Porifera ; Bryozoa ; Echinodermata including starfish ; and Urochordata including sea squirts or tunicates . Over 10,000 species of fungi are known from marine environments. These are parasitic on marine algae or animals, or are saprobes on algae, corals, protozoan cysts, sea grasses, wood and other substrata, and can also be found in sea foam . Spores of many species have special appendages which facilitate attachment to

500-420: A hard-to-find physical meaning. The final mathematical solution has an easier-to-find meaning, because it is what the solver is looking for. Physics is a branch of fundamental science (also called basic science). Physics is also called " the fundamental science" because all branches of natural science including chemistry, astronomy, geology, and biology are constrained by laws of physics. Similarly, chemistry

600-547: A huge community of life, including the corals themselves, their symbiotic zooxanthellae , tropical fish and many other organisms. Much attention in marine biology is focused on coral reefs and the El Niño weather phenomenon. In 1998, coral reefs experienced the most severe mass bleaching events on record, when vast expanses of reefs across the world died because sea surface temperatures rose well above normal. Some reefs are recovering, but scientists say that between 50% and 70% of

700-465: A specific practical application as a goal, other than the deeper insight into the phenomema themselves. Applied physics is a general term for physics research and development that is intended for a particular use. An applied physics curriculum usually contains a few classes in an applied discipline, like geology or electrical engineering. It usually differs from engineering in that an applied physicist may not be designing something in particular, but rather

800-426: A speed much less than the speed of light. These theories continue to be areas of active research today. Chaos theory , an aspect of classical mechanics, was discovered in the 20th century, three centuries after the original formulation of classical mechanics by Newton (1642–1727). These central theories are important tools for research into more specialized topics, and any physicist, regardless of their specialization,

900-399: A subfield of mechanics , is used in the building of bridges and other static structures. The understanding and use of acoustics results in sound control and better concert halls; similarly, the use of optics creates better optical devices. An understanding of physics makes for more realistic flight simulators , video games, and movies, and is often critical in forensic investigations. With

1000-597: A term derived from φύσις ( phúsis 'origin, nature, property'). Astronomy is one of the oldest natural sciences . Early civilizations dating before 3000 BCE, such as the Sumerians , ancient Egyptians , and the Indus Valley Civilisation , had a predictive knowledge and a basic awareness of the motions of the Sun, Moon, and stars. The stars and planets, believed to represent gods, were often worshipped. While

1100-409: A transition zone between freshwater river environments and saltwater maritime environments. They are subject both to marine influences—such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water—and to riverine influences—such as flows of fresh water and sediment. The shifting flows of both sea water and fresh water provide high levels of nutrients both in the water column and in sediment, making estuaries among

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1200-452: Is also becoming understood that the well-being of marine organisms and other organisms are linked in fundamental ways. The human body of knowledge regarding the relationship between life in the sea and important cycles is rapidly growing, with new discoveries being made nearly every day. These cycles include those of matter (such as the carbon cycle ) and of air (such as Earth's respiration , and movement of energy through ecosystems including

1300-413: Is clear-cut, but not always obvious. For example, mathematical physics is the application of mathematics in physics. Its methods are mathematical, but its subject is physical. The problems in this field start with a " mathematical model of a physical situation " (system) and a "mathematical description of a physical law" that will be applied to that system. Every mathematical statement used for solving has

1400-471: Is closely linked to oceanography , especially biological oceanography , and may be regarded as a sub-field of marine science . It also encompasses many ideas from ecology . Fisheries science and marine conservation can be considered partial offshoots of marine biology (as well as environmental studies ). Marine chemistry , physical oceanography and atmospheric sciences are also closely related to this field. An active research topic in marine biology

1500-410: Is completely erroneous, and our view may be corroborated by actual observation more effectively than by any sort of verbal argument. For if you let fall from the same height two weights of which one is many times as heavy as the other, you will see that the ratio of the times required for the motion does not depend on the ratio of the weights, but that the difference in time is a very small one. And so, if

1600-419: Is concerned with bodies acted on by forces and bodies in motion and may be divided into statics (study of the forces on a body or bodies not subject to an acceleration), kinematics (study of motion without regard to its causes), and dynamics (study of motion and the forces that affect it); mechanics may also be divided into solid mechanics and fluid mechanics (known together as continuum mechanics ),

1700-400: Is concerned with the most basic units of matter; this branch of physics is also known as high-energy physics because of the extremely high energies necessary to produce many types of particles in particle accelerators . On this scale, ordinary, commonsensical notions of space, time, matter, and energy are no longer valid. The two chief theories of modern physics present a different picture of

1800-425: Is expected to be literate in them. These include classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, thermodynamics and statistical mechanics , electromagnetism , and special relativity. Classical physics includes the traditional branches and topics that were recognized and well-developed before the beginning of the 20th century—classical mechanics, acoustics , optics , thermodynamics, and electromagnetism. Classical mechanics

1900-456: Is extreme and there is no sunlight, but some life still exists. A white flatfish , a shrimp and a jellyfish were seen by the American crew of the bathyscaphe Trieste when it dove to the bottom in 1960. In general, the deep sea is considered to start at the aphotic zone , the point where sunlight loses its power of transference through the water. Many life forms that live at these depths have

2000-429: Is generally concerned with matter and energy on the normal scale of observation, while much of modern physics is concerned with the behavior of matter and energy under extreme conditions or on a very large or very small scale. For example, atomic and nuclear physics study matter on the smallest scale at which chemical elements can be identified. The physics of elementary particles is on an even smaller scale since it

2100-593: Is often called the central science because of its role in linking the physical sciences. For example, chemistry studies properties, structures, and reactions of matter (chemistry's focus on the molecular and atomic scale distinguishes it from physics ). Structures are formed because particles exert electrical forces on each other, properties include physical characteristics of given substances, and reactions are bound by laws of physics, like conservation of energy , mass , and charge . Fundamental physics seeks to better explain and understand phenomena in all spheres, without

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2200-500: Is possible only in discrete steps proportional to their frequency. This, along with the photoelectric effect and a complete theory predicting discrete energy levels of electron orbitals , led to the theory of quantum mechanics improving on classical physics at very small scales. Quantum mechanics would come to be pioneered by Werner Heisenberg , Erwin Schrödinger and Paul Dirac . From this early work, and work in related fields,

2300-426: Is still much more to learn about the deeper parts of the ocean . In biology, many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land. Marine biology classifies species based on their environment rather than their taxonomy. For this reason, marine biology encompasses not only organisms that live only in a marine environment, but also other organisms whose lives revolve around

2400-794: Is to discover and map the life cycles of various species and where they spend their time. Technologies that aid in this discovery include pop-up satellite archival tags , acoustic tags , and a variety of other data loggers . Marine biologists study how the ocean currents , tides and many other oceanic factors affect ocean life forms, including their growth, distribution and well-being. This has only recently become technically feasible with advances in GPS and newer underwater visual devices. Most ocean life breeds in specific places, nests in others, spends time as juveniles in still others, and in maturity in yet others. Scientists know little about where many species spend different parts of their life cycles especially in

2500-431: Is using physics or conducting physics research with the aim of developing new technologies or solving a problem. The approach is similar to that of applied mathematics . Applied physicists use physics in scientific research. For instance, people working on accelerator physics might seek to build better particle detectors for research in theoretical physics. Physics is used heavily in engineering. For example, statics,

2600-426: Is widespread and very diverse under the ocean. Microscopic photosynthetic algae contribute a larger proportion of the world's photosynthetic output than all the terrestrial forests combined. Most of the niche occupied by sub plants on land is actually occupied by macroscopic algae in the ocean, such as Sargassum and kelp , which are commonly known as seaweeds that create kelp forests . Plants that survive in

2700-454: The Archaic period (650 BCE – 480 BCE), when pre-Socratic philosophers like Thales rejected non-naturalistic explanations for natural phenomena and proclaimed that every event had a natural cause. They proposed ideas verified by reason and observation, and many of their hypotheses proved successful in experiment; for example, atomism was found to be correct approximately 2000 years after it

2800-518: The Boy Scouts of America ). References 33°22′26″N 118°21′23″W  /  33.3738°N 118.3563°W  / 33.3738; -118.3563 Marine biology Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life , organisms that inhabit the sea . Given that in biology many phyla , families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on

2900-527: The Industrial Revolution as energy needs increased. The laws comprising classical physics remain widely used for objects on everyday scales travelling at non-relativistic speeds, since they provide a close approximation in such situations, and theories such as quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity simplify to their classical equivalents at such scales. Inaccuracies in classical mechanics for very small objects and very high velocities led to

3000-470: The Islamic Golden Age developed it further, especially placing emphasis on observation and a priori reasoning, developing early forms of the scientific method . The most notable innovations under Islamic scholarship were in the field of optics and vision, which came from the works of many scientists like Ibn Sahl , Al-Kindi , Ibn al-Haytham , Al-Farisi and Avicenna . The most notable work

3100-571: The Scientific Revolution . Galileo cited Philoponus substantially in his works when arguing that Aristotelian physics was flawed. In the 1300s Jean Buridan , a teacher in the faculty of arts at the University of Paris , developed the concept of impetus. It was a step toward the modern ideas of inertia and momentum. Islamic scholarship inherited Aristotelian physics from the Greeks and during

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3200-601: The Standard Model of particle physics was derived. Following the discovery of a particle with properties consistent with the Higgs boson at CERN in 2012, all fundamental particles predicted by the standard model, and no others, appear to exist; however, physics beyond the Standard Model , with theories such as supersymmetry , is an active area of research. Areas of mathematics in general are important to this field, such as

3300-579: The empirical world. This is usually combined with the claim that the laws of logic express universal regularities found in the structural features of the world, which may explain the peculiar relation between these fields. Physics uses mathematics to organise and formulate experimental results. From those results, precise or estimated solutions are obtained, or quantitative results, from which new predictions can be made and experimentally confirmed or negated. The results from physics experiments are numerical data, with their units of measure and estimates of

3400-540: The environment rather than on taxonomy . A large proportion of all life on Earth lives in the ocean. The exact size of this "large proportion" is unknown, since many ocean species are still to be discovered. The ocean is a complex three-dimensional world, covering approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The habitats studied in marine biology include everything from the tiny layers of surface water in which organisms and abiotic items may be trapped in surface tension between

3500-635: The epipelagic , mesopelagic , bathypelagic , abyssopelagic , and hadopelagic zones. Zones which vary by the amount of light they receive include the photic and aphotic zones . Much of the aphotic zone's energy is supplied by the open ocean in the form of detritus . The deepest recorded oceanic trench measured to date is the Mariana Trench , near the Philippines , in the Pacific Ocean at 10,924 m (35,840 ft). At such depths, water pressure

3600-585: The exact sciences are descended from late Babylonian astronomy . Egyptian astronomers left monuments showing knowledge of the constellations and the motions of the celestial bodies, while Greek poet Homer wrote of various celestial objects in his Iliad and Odyssey ; later Greek astronomers provided names, which are still used today, for most constellations visible from the Northern Hemisphere . Natural philosophy has its origins in Greece during

3700-405: The marine environment are often called seabirds . Examples include albatross , penguins , gannets , and auks . Although they spend most of their lives in the ocean, species such as gulls can often be found thousands of miles inland. There are five main types of marine mammals: cetaceans ( toothed whales and baleen whales ); sirenians such as manatees ; pinnipeds including seals and

3800-456: The microorganisms within the ocean; looking at how they are affected by their environment and how that affects larger marine creatures and their ecosystem. Biological oceanography is similar to marine biology, but it studies ocean life from a different perspective. Biological oceanography takes a bottom up approach in terms of the food web, while marine biology studies the ocean from a top down perspective. Biological oceanography mainly focuses on

3900-588: The saltwater crocodile . Most extant marine reptiles, except for some sea snakes, are oviparous and need to return to land to lay their eggs. Thus most species, excluding sea turtles, spend most of their lives on or near land rather than in the ocean. Despite their marine adaptations, most sea snakes prefer shallow waters nearby land, around islands, especially waters that are somewhat sheltered, as well as near estuaries. Some extinct marine reptiles, such as ichthyosaurs , evolved to be viviparous and had no requirement to return to land. Birds adapted to living in

4000-491: The standard consensus that the laws of physics are universal and do not change with time, physics can be used to study things that would ordinarily be mired in uncertainty . For example, in the study of the origin of the Earth, a physicist can reasonably model Earth's mass, temperature, and rate of rotation, as a function of time allowing the extrapolation forward or backward in time and so predict future or prior events. It also allows for simulations in engineering that speed up

4100-441: The walrus ; sea otters ; and the polar bear . All are air-breathing, meaning that while some such as the sperm whale can dive for prolonged periods, all must return to the surface to breathe. The marine ecosystem is large, and thus there are many sub-fields of marine biology. Most involve studying specializations of particular animal groups, such as phycology , invertebrate zoology and ichthyology . Other subfields study

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4200-435: The 16th and 17th centuries, and Isaac Newton 's discovery and unification of the laws of motion and universal gravitation (that would come to bear his name). Newton also developed calculus , the mathematical study of continuous change, which provided new mathematical methods for solving physical problems. The discovery of laws in thermodynamics , chemistry , and electromagnetics resulted from research efforts during

4300-446: The ability to create their own light known as bio-luminescence . Marine life also flourishes around seamounts that rise from the depths, where fish and other sea life congregate to spawn and feed. Hydrothermal vents along the mid-ocean ridge spreading centers act as oases , as do their opposites, cold seeps . Such places support unique biomes and many new microbes and other lifeforms have been discovered at these locations.There

4400-417: The area that extends from the shoreline to the edge of the continental shelf . Most marine life is found in coastal habitats, even though the shelf area occupies only seven percent of the total ocean area. Open ocean habitats are found in the deep ocean beyond the edge of the continental shelf. Alternatively, marine habitats can be divided into pelagic and demersal habitats. Pelagic habitats are found near

4500-400: The areas that are close to the shore, are constantly being exposed and covered by the ocean's tides . A huge array of life can be found within this zone. Shore habitats span from the upper intertidal zones to the area where land vegetation takes prominence. It can be underwater anywhere from daily to very infrequently. Many species here are scavengers, living off of sea life that is washed up on

4600-433: The boundaries of physics are not rigidly defined. New ideas in physics often explain the fundamental mechanisms studied by other sciences and suggest new avenues of research in these and other academic disciplines such as mathematics and philosophy. Advances in physics often enable new technologies . For example, advances in the understanding of electromagnetism , solid-state physics , and nuclear physics led directly to

4700-434: The concepts of space, time, and matter from that presented by classical physics. Classical mechanics approximates nature as continuous, while quantum theory is concerned with the discrete nature of many phenomena at the atomic and subatomic level and with the complementary aspects of particles and waves in the description of such phenomena. The theory of relativity is concerned with the description of phenomena that take place in

4800-409: The constant speed predicted by Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism. This discrepancy was corrected by Einstein's theory of special relativity , which replaced classical mechanics for fast-moving bodies and allowed for a constant speed of light. Black-body radiation provided another problem for classical physics, which was corrected when Planck proposed that the excitation of material oscillators

4900-415: The density object it is falling through (e.g. density of air). He also stated that, when it comes to violent motion (motion of an object when a force is applied to it by a second object) that the speed that object moves, will only be as fast or strong as the measure of force applied to it. The problem of motion and its causes was studied carefully, leading to the philosophical notion of a " prime mover " as

5000-418: The development of marine protected areas . This data is important to both scientists and fishermen because they are discovering that, by restricting commercial fishing in one small area, they can have a large impact in maintaining a healthy fish population in a much larger area. The study of marine biology dates to Aristotle (384–322 BC), who made many observations of life in the sea around Lesbos , laying

5100-466: The development of a new technology. There is also considerable interdisciplinarity , so many other important fields are influenced by physics (e.g., the fields of econophysics and sociophysics ). Physicists use the scientific method to test the validity of a physical theory . By using a methodical approach to compare the implications of a theory with the conclusions drawn from its related experiments and observations, physicists are better able to test

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5200-429: The development of modern physics in the 20th century. Modern physics began in the early 20th century with the work of Max Planck in quantum theory and Albert Einstein 's theory of relativity. Both of these theories came about due to inaccuracies in classical mechanics in certain situations. Classical mechanics predicted that the speed of light depends on the motion of the observer, which could not be resolved with

5300-407: The development of new experiments (and often related equipment). Physicists who work at the interplay of theory and experiment are called phenomenologists , who study complex phenomena observed in experiment and work to relate them to a fundamental theory . Theoretical physics has historically taken inspiration from philosophy; electromagnetism was unified this way. Beyond the known universe,

5400-548: The development of technologies that have transformed modern society, such as television, computers, domestic appliances , and nuclear weapons ; advances in thermodynamics led to the development of industrialization; and advances in mechanics inspired the development of calculus . The word physics comes from the Latin physica ('study of nature'), which itself is a borrowing of the Greek φυσική ( phusikḗ 'natural science'),

5500-422: The difference in the weights is not considerable, that is, of one is, let us say, double the other, there will be no difference, or else an imperceptible difference, in time, though the difference in weight is by no means negligible, with one body weighing twice as much as the other Philoponus' criticism of Aristotelian principles of physics served as an inspiration for Galileo Galilei ten centuries later, during

5600-607: The distinction between plants and animals often breaks down in very small organisms. Other zooplankton include cnidarians , ctenophores , chaetognaths , molluscs , arthropods , urochordates , and annelids such as polychaetes . Many larger animals begin their life as zooplankton before they become large enough to take their familiar forms. Two examples are fish larvae and sea stars (also called starfish ). Microscopic algae and plants provide important habitats for life, sometimes acting as hiding places for larval forms of larger fish and foraging places for invertebrates. Algal life

5700-500: The ecosystem of the ocean with an emphasis on plankton : their diversity (morphology, nutritional sources, motility, and metabolism); their productivity and how that plays a role in the global carbon cycle; and their distribution (predation and life cycle). Biological oceanography also investigates the role of microbes in food webs, and how humans impact the ecosystems in the oceans. Marine habitats can be divided into coastal and open ocean habitats. Coastal habitats are found in

5800-682: The errors in the measurements. Technologies based on mathematics, like computation have made computational physics an active area of research. Ontology is a prerequisite for physics, but not for mathematics. It means physics is ultimately concerned with descriptions of the real world, while mathematics is concerned with abstract patterns, even beyond the real world. Thus physics statements are synthetic, while mathematical statements are analytic. Mathematics contains hypotheses, while physics contains theories. Mathematics statements have to be only logically true, while predictions of physics statements must match observed and experimental data. The distinction

5900-470: The explanations for the observed positions of the stars were often unscientific and lacking in evidence, these early observations laid the foundation for later astronomy, as the stars were found to traverse great circles across the sky, which could not explain the positions of the planets . According to Asger Aaboe , the origins of Western astronomy can be found in Mesopotamia , and all Western efforts in

6000-489: The field of physics is called a physicist . Physics is one of the oldest academic disciplines . Over much of the past two millennia, physics, chemistry , biology , and certain branches of mathematics were a part of natural philosophy , but during the Scientific Revolution in the 17th century, these natural sciences branched into separate research endeavors. Physics intersects with many interdisciplinary areas of research, such as biophysics and quantum chemistry , and

6100-476: The foundation for many future discoveries. In 1768, Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin (1744–1774) published the Historia Fucorum , the first work dedicated to marine algae and the first book on marine biology to use the new binomial nomenclature of Linnaeus . It included elaborate illustrations of seaweed and marine algae on folded leaves. The British naturalist Edward Forbes (1815–1854) is generally regarded as

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6200-510: The founder of the science of marine biology. The pace of oceanographic and marine biology studies quickly accelerated during the course of the 19th century. The observations made in the first studies of marine biology fueled the Age of Discovery and exploration that followed. During this time, a vast amount of knowledge was gained about the life that exists in the oceans of the world. Many voyages contributed significantly to this pool of knowledge. Among

6300-423: The home to many exotic biological materials that may inspire biomimetic materials . Through constant monitoring of the ocean, there have been discoveries of marine life which could be used to create remedies for certain diseases such as cancer and leukemia. In addition, Ziconotide, an approved drug used to treat pain, was created from a snail which resides in the ocean. Marine biology is a branch of biology . It

6400-411: The infant and juvenile years. For example, it is still largely unknown where juvenile sea turtles and some sharks in the first year of their life travel. Recent advances in underwater tracking devices are illuminating what we know about marine organisms that live at great ocean depths. The information that pop-up satellite archival tags gives aids in fishing closures for certain times of the year and

6500-445: The knowledge of previous scholars, he began to explain how light enters the eye. He asserted that the light ray is focused, but the actual explanation of how light projected to the back of the eye had to wait until 1604. His Treatise on Light explained the camera obscura , hundreds of years before the modern development of photography. The seven-volume Book of Optics ( Kitab al-Manathir ) influenced thinking across disciplines from

6600-400: The latter include such branches as hydrostatics , hydrodynamics and pneumatics . Acoustics is the study of how sound is produced, controlled, transmitted and received. Important modern branches of acoustics include ultrasonics , the study of sound waves of very high frequency beyond the range of human hearing; bioacoustics , the physics of animal calls and hearing, and electroacoustics ,

6700-490: The laws of classical physics accurately describe systems whose important length scales are greater than the atomic scale and whose motions are much slower than the speed of light. Outside of this domain, observations do not match predictions provided by classical mechanics. Einstein contributed the framework of special relativity, which replaced notions of absolute time and space with spacetime and allowed an accurate description of systems whose components have speeds approaching

6800-412: The manipulation of audible sound waves using electronics. Optics, the study of light, is concerned not only with visible light but also with infrared and ultraviolet radiation , which exhibit all of the phenomena of visible light except visibility, e.g., reflection, refraction, interference, diffraction, dispersion, and polarization of light. Heat is a form of energy, the internal energy possessed by

6900-516: The most productive natural habitats in the world. Reefs comprise some of the densest and most diverse habitats in the world. The best-known types of reefs are tropical coral reefs which exist in most tropical waters; however, reefs can also exist in cold water. Reefs are built up by corals and other calcium -depositing animals, usually on top of a rocky outcrop on the ocean floor. Reefs can also grow on other surfaces, which has made it possible to create artificial reefs . Coral reefs also support

7000-422: The most significant were the voyages of HMS  Beagle where Charles Darwin came up with his theories of evolution and on the formation of coral reefs . Another important expedition was undertaken by HMS Challenger , where findings were made of unexpectedly high species diversity among fauna stimulating much theorizing by population ecologists on how such varieties of life could be maintained in what

7100-429: The natural place of another, the less abundant element will automatically go towards its own natural place. For example, if there is a fire on the ground, the flames go up into the air in an attempt to go back into its natural place where it belongs. His laws of motion included: that heavier objects will fall faster, the speed being proportional to the weight and the speed of the object that is falling depends inversely on

7200-402: The ocean and atmosphere, to the depths of the oceanic trenches , sometimes 10,000 meters or more beneath the surface of the ocean. Specific habitats include estuaries , coral reefs , kelp forests , seagrass meadows , the surrounds of seamounts and thermal vents , tidepools , muddy, sandy and rocky bottoms, and the open ocean ( pelagic ) zone, where solid objects are rare and the surface of

7300-440: The ocean). Large areas beneath the ocean surface still remain effectively unexplored. Marine biology can be contrasted with biological oceanography . Marine life is a field of study both in marine biology and in biological oceanography . Biological oceanography is the study of how organisms affect and are affected by the physics , chemistry , and geology of the oceanographic system . Biological oceanography mostly focuses on

7400-572: The particles of which a substance is composed; thermodynamics deals with the relationships between heat and other forms of energy. Electricity and magnetism have been studied as a single branch of physics since the intimate connection between them was discovered in the early 19th century; an electric current gives rise to a magnetic field , and a changing magnetic field induces an electric current. Electrostatics deals with electric charges at rest, electrodynamics with moving charges, and magnetostatics with magnetic poles at rest. Classical physics

7500-531: The physical effects of continual immersion in sea water and the ocean in general, adaptation to a salty environment, and the effects of changing various oceanic properties on marine life. A subfield of marine biology studies the relationships between oceans and ocean life, and global warming and environmental issues (such as carbon dioxide displacement). Recent marine biotechnology has focused largely on marine biomolecules , especially proteins , that may have uses in medicine or engineering. Marine environments are

7600-808: The role of viruses in marine ecosystems is barely being explored even in the beginning of the 21st century. The role of phytoplankton is better understood due to their critical position as the most numerous primary producers on Earth. Phytoplankton are categorized into cyanobacteria (also called blue-green algae/bacteria), various types of algae (red, green, brown, and yellow-green), diatoms , dinoflagellates , euglenoids , coccolithophorids , cryptomonads , chrysophytes , chlorophytes , prasinophytes , and silicoflagellates . Zooplankton tend to be somewhat larger, and not all are microscopic. Many Protozoa are zooplankton, including dinoflagellates, zooflagellates , foraminiferans , and radiolarians . Some of these (such as dinoflagellates) are also phytoplankton;

7700-408: The sea are often found in shallow waters, such as the seagrasses (examples of which are eelgrass, Zostera , and turtle grass, Thalassia ). These plants have adapted to the high salinity of the ocean environment. The intertidal zone is also a good place to find plant life in the sea, where mangroves or cordgrass or beach grass might grow. As on land, invertebrates , or animals that lack

7800-407: The sea. As inhabitants of the largest environment on Earth, microbial marine systems drive changes in every global system. Microbes are responsible for virtually all photosynthesis that occurs in the ocean, as well as the cycling of carbon , nitrogen , phosphorus and other nutrients and trace elements. Microscopic life undersea is incredibly diverse and still poorly understood. For example,

7900-424: The shore. Many land animals also make much use of the shore and intertidal habitats. A subgroup of organisms in this habitat bores and grinds exposed rock through the process of bioerosion . Estuaries are also near shore and influenced by the tides . An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form

8000-590: The sixth century, Isidore of Miletus created an important compilation of Archimedes ' works that are copied in the Archimedes Palimpsest . In sixth-century Europe John Philoponus , a Byzantine scholar, questioned Aristotle 's teaching of physics and noted its flaws. He introduced the theory of impetus . Aristotle's physics was not scrutinized until Philoponus appeared; unlike Aristotle, who based his physics on verbal argument, Philoponus relied on observation. On Aristotle's physics Philoponus wrote: But this

8100-412: The speed of light. Planck, Schrödinger, and others introduced quantum mechanics, a probabilistic notion of particles and interactions that allowed an accurate description of atomic and subatomic scales. Later, quantum field theory unified quantum mechanics and special relativity. General relativity allowed for a dynamical, curved spacetime, with which highly massive systems and the large-scale structure of

8200-412: The study of probabilities and groups . Physics deals with a wide variety of systems, although certain theories are used by all physicists. Each of these theories was experimentally tested numerous times and found to be an adequate approximation of nature. For instance, the theory of classical mechanics accurately describes the motion of objects, provided they are much larger than atoms and moving at

8300-423: The substratum. A very diverse range of unusual secondary metabolites is produced by marine fungi. A reported 33,400 species of fish , including bony and cartilaginous fish , had been described by 2016, more than all other vertebrates combined. About 60% of fish species live in saltwater. Reptiles which inhabit or frequent the sea include sea turtles , sea snakes , terrapins , the marine iguana , and

8400-426: The surface or in the open water column , away from the bottom of the ocean and affected by ocean currents , while demersal habitats are near or on the bottom. Marine habitats can be modified by their inhabitants. Some marine organisms, like corals, kelp and sea grasses, are ecosystem engineers which reshape the marine environment to the point where they create further habitat for other organisms. Intertidal zones ,

8500-425: The theory of four elements . Aristotle believed that each of the four classical elements (air, fire, water, earth) had its own natural place. Because of their differing densities, each element will revert to its own specific place in the atmosphere. So, because of their weights, fire would be at the top, air underneath fire, then water, then lastly earth. He also stated that when a small amount of one element enters

8600-553: The theory of visual perception to the nature of perspective in medieval art, in both the East and the West, for more than 600 years. This included later European scholars and fellow polymaths, from Robert Grosseteste and Leonardo da Vinci to Johannes Kepler . The translation of The Book of Optics had an impact on Europe. From it, later European scholars were able to build devices that replicated those Ibn al-Haytham had built and understand

8700-552: The ultimate source of all motion in the world (Book 8 of his treatise Physics ). The Western Roman Empire fell to invaders and internal decay in the fifth century, resulting in a decline in intellectual pursuits in western Europe. By contrast, the Eastern Roman Empire (usually known as the Byzantine Empire ) resisted the attacks from invaders and continued to advance various fields of learning, including physics. In

8800-423: The universe can be well-described. General relativity has not yet been unified with the other fundamental descriptions; several candidate theories of quantum gravity are being developed. Physics, as with the rest of science, relies on the philosophy of science and its " scientific method " to advance knowledge of the physical world. The scientific method employs a priori and a posteriori reasoning as well as

8900-573: The use of Bayesian inference to measure the validity of a given theory. Study of the philosophical issues surrounding physics, the philosophy of physics , involves issues such as the nature of space and time , determinism , and metaphysical outlooks such as empiricism , naturalism , and realism . Many physicists have written about the philosophical implications of their work, for instance Laplace , who championed causal determinism , and Erwin Schrödinger , who wrote on quantum mechanics. The mathematical physicist Roger Penrose has been called

9000-988: The validity of a theory in a logical, unbiased, and repeatable way. To that end, experiments are performed and observations are made in order to determine the validity or invalidity of a theory. A scientific law is a concise verbal or mathematical statement of a relation that expresses a fundamental principle of some theory, such as Newton's law of universal gravitation. Theorists seek to develop mathematical models that both agree with existing experiments and successfully predict future experimental results, while experimentalists devise and perform experiments to test theoretical predictions and explore new phenomena. Although theory and experiment are developed separately, they strongly affect and depend upon each other. Progress in physics frequently comes about when experimental results defy explanation by existing theories, prompting intense focus on applicable modelling, and when new theories generate experimentally testable predictions , which inspire

9100-434: The water is the only visible boundary. The organisms studied range from microscopic phytoplankton and zooplankton to huge cetaceans (whales) 25–32 meters (82–105 feet) in length. Marine ecology is the study of how marine organisms interact with each other and the environment. Marine life is a vast resource, providing food, medicine, and raw materials, in addition to helping to support recreation and tourism all over

9200-573: The way vision works. Physics became a separate science when early modern Europeans used experimental and quantitative methods to discover what are now considered to be the laws of physics . Major developments in this period include the replacement of the geocentric model of the Solar System with the heliocentric Copernican model , the laws governing the motion of planetary bodies (determined by Kepler between 1609 and 1619), Galileo's pioneering work on telescopes and observational astronomy in

9300-420: The world's coral reefs are now endangered and predict that global warming could exacerbate this trend. The open ocean is relatively unproductive because of a lack of nutrients, yet because it is so vast, in total it produces the most primary productivity. The open ocean is separated into different zones, and the different zones each have different ecologies. Zones which vary according to their depth include

9400-721: The world, Station biologique de Roscoff , was established in Concarneau, France founded by the College of France in 1859. In the United States, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography dates back to 1903, while the prominent Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute was founded in 1930. The development of technology such as sound navigation and ranging , scuba diving gear, submersibles and remotely operated vehicles allowed marine biologists to discover and explore life in deep oceans that

9500-430: The world. At a fundamental level, marine life helps determine the very nature of our planet. Marine organisms contribute significantly to the oxygen cycle , and are involved in the regulation of the Earth's climate . Shorelines are in part shaped and protected by marine life, and some marine organisms even help create new land. Many species are economically important to humans, including both finfish and shellfish. It

9600-410: Was The Book of Optics (also known as Kitāb al-Manāẓir), written by Ibn al-Haytham, in which he presented the alternative to the ancient Greek idea about vision. In his Treatise on Light as well as in his Kitāb al-Manāẓir , he presented a study of the phenomenon of the camera obscura (his thousand-year-old version of the pinhole camera ) and delved further into the way the eye itself works. Using

9700-482: Was influential for about two millennia. His approach mixed some limited observation with logical deductive arguments, but did not rely on experimental verification of deduced statements. Aristotle's foundational work in Physics, though very imperfect, formed a framework against which later thinkers further developed the field. His approach is entirely superseded today. He explained ideas such as motion (and gravity ) with

9800-477: Was once thought to not exist. Public interest in the subject continued to develop in the post-war years with the publication of Rachel Carson 's sea trilogy (1941–1955). Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter , its fundamental constituents , its motion and behavior through space and time , and the related entities of energy and force . Physics is one of the most fundamental scientific disciplines. A scientist who specializes in

9900-536: Was proposed by Leucippus and his pupil Democritus . During the classical period in Greece (6th, 5th and 4th centuries BCE) and in Hellenistic times , natural philosophy developed along many lines of inquiry. Aristotle ( Greek : Ἀριστοτέλης , Aristotélēs ) (384–322 BCE), a student of Plato , wrote on many subjects, including a substantial treatise on " Physics " – in the 4th century BC. Aristotelian physics

10000-465: Was thought to be such a hostile environment. This era was important for the history of marine biology but naturalists were still limited in their studies because they lacked technology that would allow them to adequately examine species that lived in deep parts of the oceans. The creation of marine laboratories was important because it allowed marine biologists to conduct research and process their specimens from expeditions. The oldest marine laboratory in

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