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Asked by _lucytuffnell to Alice, Bose, Christian, Emma, Steve on 4 Mar 2016. This question was also asked by samirah, SPARKLEMONKEY.
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Christian Killow answered on 4 Mar 2016:
I work on gravitational wave detectors and I’d say there are two main ways this will help people.
First, this is an entirely new form of astronomy – we will learn things about the Universe we live in that we can’t think of finding out any other way. From this greater understanding a more complete grasp of physics will result, and we can use that here on earth.
Secondly, this is an incredibly technological field. We are pushing back the boundaries of what can be done all the time, more precise measurements, more stable measurements, fundamental materials research – there’s a lot that goes into detecting gravitational waves! These technologies then filter down to high-tech industries, and eventually become commonplace. Did you ever see a picture of a mobile phone in the 1990’s? How did we get from those lumps to the sleek, thin objects of beauty that we have now? Research. Some of that will have come from unexpected places – doing fundamental research always ends up having more uses than the task it was designed for.
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Alice Harpole answered on 4 Mar 2016:
I model astrophysical fluids. The main difference between these and the kind of fluids we typically see on Earth are that they are incredibly extreme (very dense, very hot and at very high pressure). However, there are some systems on Earth which are not so different. For example, I’ve been reading papers recently which model explosions in nuclear reactors.
It often happens in science that research into one particular system can produce results that can then be applied to a much wider set of systems. So, even though I look at fluids in space, it may be that by doing that we learn some physics which could then be used in engineering new technologies here on Earth.
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Steve Marsden answered on 4 Mar 2016:
I am a particle physicist, and collide particles together close to the speed of light to discover new particles and forces, and to further understand the physics at the smallest distances. The applications of this for in the near future? I don’t have a clue, but I’m certain that huge advancements will be made because of it.
In the past, every time experiments were performed to push the boundary of understanding of smaller and smaller distances, they were done out of scientific curiosity, and not because of the potential benefits. This lead to the discovery of the electron (knowledge of which is needed for the semi-conductor technology in computers), the structure of the atom (needed for nuclear reactors / MRI machines / proton therapy for cancer treatment), the existence of anti-matter (knowledge of which is needed for PET scans). None of these advancements could have been imagined before the experiments were performed, but are now have regular uses.
So I have no idea what the short term advancements of particle physics will be, but I’d be very surprised if it didn’t lead to new technology that will be in common use in a couple of centuries (*sigh* yes, centuries). That said, there are several proposed theories which could lead to major advancements in the even further future. The most exciting (though highly unlikely) possibility is the discovery of exotic matter which could allow for faster than light travel.
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Benjamin Bose answered on 5 Mar 2016:
I ask this question to myself quite often and I still haven’t come up with a satisfying answer. What I do is work on testing modified gravity. How will finding a better theory of gravity help anyone? I’m not too sure, and it does bother me (which is why I keep asking it) but I suppose the answer comes with hindsight. Without the last improvement to our theory of gravity (Einstein’s General Relativity) we wouldn’t have GPS – and many of my friends would lose hours of their lives weekly just finding their ways home!
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