What is classical physics?

[timjohnson2584]

Classical physics refers to the branch of physics that deals with the study of the behavior of macroscopic objects at speeds much slower than the speed of light. It is also known as Newtonian physics or classical mechanics, as it was founded by Sir Isaac Newton in the 17th century.

Classical physics encompasses the laws of motion, the conservation of energy and momentum, and the study of forces such as gravity, friction, and electromagnetism. It describes the behavior of objects ranging from particles to planets, and is still widely used in many areas of science and engineering today.

[Bufofrog]

I hope your answer to your question was adequate.

[Genady]

No, it is more than that. Just look at this book:

Modern Classical Physics: Optics, Fluids, Plasmas, Elasticity, Relativity, and Statistical Physics

by Kip S. Thorne (Author), Roger D. Blandford (Author)

 

From the book description:

This first-year graduate-level text and reference book covers the fundamental concepts and twenty-first-century applications of six major areas of classical physics that every masters- or PhD-level physicist should be exposed to, but often isn't: statistical physics, optics (waves of all sorts), elastodynamics, fluid mechanics, plasma physics, and special and general relativity and cosmology. Growing out of a full-year course that the eminent researchers Kip Thorne and Roger Blandford taught at Caltech for almost three decades, this book is designed to broaden the training of physicists. Its six main topical sections are also designed so they can be used in separate courses, and the book provides an invaluable reference for researchers.

• Presents all the major fields of classical physics except three prerequisites: classical mechanics, electromagnetism, and elementary thermodynamics

[MigL]

2 hours ago, timjohnson2584 said:

Classical physics refers to the branch of physics that deals with the study of the behavior of macroscopic objects at speeds much slower than the speed of light. It is also known as Newtonian physics or classical mechanics, as it was founded by Sir Isaac Newton in the 17th century.

Not really.
Relativity, special as well as general, is purely classical.
The distinction is due to Max Planck; classical Physics has no quantization, or effects thereof.

[studiot]

45 minutes ago, MigL said:

Not really.
Relativity, special as well as general, is purely classical.
The distinction is due to Max Planck; classical Physics has no quantization, or effects thereof.

I think that sufficed for the mid 20th century.

We are more than half a century beyond that now and a whole century since the main work of Einstein, Planck et al.

 

It was always an arbitrary distinction, and modern science and physics moves on.

So many matters in older disciplines macrocopic or microscopic involve some measure of quantum theoury, some measure of new science such as data correction (the James Webb telescope couldn't funtion without the latter.

We really need some new categories to clear up the mess.

[Markus Hanke]

I would say that the defining characteristic of quantum systems isn’t so much the discrete spectra of some observables, but rather the fact that there are pairs of observables that do not commute. That’s something we don’t find in the classical realm.

[timjohnson2584]

Thank you everyone,.

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