Fields

[AngloScot]

How many different types of fields are there in physics? e.g. electric, magnetic, can you name any more? 

[Skids]

Gravitational.

[fantastical]

How about kinetic?

[loobie]

Combustion Physics, Computational Physics, Engineering Physics, Environmental Physics, Gravitational Physics, High Energy Particle Physics, Mathematical & Theoretical Physics, Medical Physics, Molecular Physics, Nanoscale Physics & Technology, Nuclear Physics, Optical Physics, Plasma Physics, Polymer Physics, Semiconductor Physics.

I work for the Institute Of Physics and have just looked through our groups that we have and put down the ones that end in Physics as I am guessing these are fields unlike some of our other groups that are more like topics. I know nothing about Physics mind you so I could be chatting rubbish!! 

[jake-the-peg]

Loobie's of course referring to fields in terms of areas of work rather than so called force fields.

Firstly I'll let you into a little secret: fields don't actually exist!

They are a very handy way of explaining and working with what Einstein called "Spooky action at a distance" that we don't full understand. (Wish somebody had actually told me that 30 years ago took me years to get my head around fields)

At a microscopic scale there are exchanges of something called "virtual particles" transmitting force but we think of it in a large scale way as a region of space in which the force operates called a field.

So there are as many types of field as there are fundamental force. Electric and magnetic are two (in reality they are different faces of the same coin.) Then there is gravity and two other ones called the weak force and the strong force

Ever wondered why the two protons at the center of a helium nucleus don't repell each other and fly apart? It's the strong force (field) that holds them together.

The electromagnetic and weak are also fundamentally the same and the other two may be as well  but we don't know yet. 

[fo3nix]

it depends what you define as a "field" (as jake says)

[c00ky83]

I'd say anything that is invisible but has a force and direction is a field.  Can't name any more though.

[Peter Pedant]

no that's a vector, cookie.

a field is a area/space , and every point in it has a vector attached.

This is carried over to force fields in sci fi- because wherever the space craft is, it experiences the force/vector which sucks it into whichever Alien ship is hovering.....

From a mathematical point of view, fields exist, because you can think of them, but they may not be a very modern or helpful way of thinking about electricity or gravity......

[fo3nix]

Peter: what you have just described is a vector field. scalar fields also exist (which have scalars at every point within the field)

[AngloScot]

thanks ladies :D