<h2>Universality of physics</h2>

<p>As far as we know, laws of physics seem invariant both across space and time. It's not absolutely certain and taken for granted, there's lots of research probing to try and verify if perhaps something is slightly different far away or long ago, but to our best current knowledge the laws of physics work exactly the same in all faraway stars, because most reasonable changes in fundamental laws or constants of physics would cause some differences that would observable by us.</p>

<p>Our currently known laws of physics aren't final, we know that there are some gaps (mismatch between general relativity and quantum mechanics comes to mind) so there's probably some way to break the <em>laws of physics as we know them</em>. But that's not because we can't do it on earth and might somewhere else, it's because we would find out what the real laws of physics actually are and how they differ from our current understanding.</p>

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2019-12-04T18:02:04.910Z
Thank you Peteris.
Shaun
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-04T03:46:37.987Z
2019-12-04T03:46:37.987Z
Peteris
<p><strong>No</strong>.</p>

<p>That's because we believe <a href="https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/11614/do-the-laws-of-physics-work-everywhere-in-the-universe?">the laws of physics to be the same everywhere</a> (this itself is a consequence of the law of conservation of momentum, via Noether's theorem). Therefore, if you can't violate the laws of physics as we know them on Earth, you can't violate them elsewhere, too.</p>

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2019-12-04T18:03:09.623Z
Thank you Allure.
Shaun
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-04T07:21:56.597Z
2019-12-04T07:43:56.757Z
2019-12-04T07:43:56.757Z
Allure
<p>Well, it's possible that physics <em>as we know them</em> are somewhat different elsewhere, or on different scales (both microscopic and macroscopic). So if we manipulate our environs in particularly extreme ways, as with the <a href="https://home.cern/science/accelerators/large-hadron-collider" rel="nofollow noreferrer">large colliders</a> or <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/01/physicists-are-planning-build-lasers-so-powerful-they-could-rip-apart-empty-space" rel="nofollow noreferrer">extreme lasers</a>, or if we inspect very large structures,  we may observe phenomena not predicted by our current laws of physics.</p>

<p>As an example, there are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modified_Newtonian_dynamics" rel="nofollow noreferrer">discussions</a>  whether acceleration by gravitation on cosmological scales "violates" <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_laws_of_motion" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Newton's Laws of Motion.</a></p>

<p>Everybody would agree that Newton's Laws are prototypical physics laws, so a deviating behavior is an obvious violation. (This is a standpoint opposing Allure's post.)</p>

<p>But indeed, as  tuomas said, these new findings would be incorporated into the ever-evolving corpus of our knowledge of the world and thus become part of new laws which would not be violated anymore <em>according to our knowledge.</em></p>

<p>The synthesis of these two is probably the following:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Our knowledge of the world is incomplete, and so are the "laws" (actually algorithms for prediction) we derive from it.</p></li>
<li><p>Even though this is pure speculation, my gut feeling is that most scientists would not assume that there is a reachable end of discoveries to be made.</p></li>
<li><p>Which means that our knowledge will always be incomplete and our predictions will always be wrong <em>some</em>where or on <em>some</em> scale or under <em>some</em> certain condition.</p></li>
<li><p>And, concluding this and answering your questions: Yes, it will almost certainly and for very principle reasons be possible to "violate" the known, and known to be incomplete, physics <em>somewhere</em> or <em>somehow,</em> given we have developed the means to observe these places or produce these conditions.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>A note of caution: Our astronomical observations show that under a wide range of conditions and scales our ideas seem to hold pretty well, so it is virtually excluded that you can float on Mars, or even on some far-away exoplanet, if you cannot do it here. The "violations" will either be very subtle or very hard to produce or very far away (like in the next universe if you survive that wormhole).</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-04T13:18:05.493Z
Not really - every physicist knows that Newtons Laws base on some proven false assumptions (like the universal time - and omitting any effects of relativity and speed-limits for information transport) . But we HAVE Einsteins general theory of relativity which fixes the known limits of Newtons laws.
Regarding your 4 points - we will never know the truth .. we make assumptions, test them versus reality - and we see if our assumptions hold up or were wrong. Based on that there is always room for better theories. But not to an extend that violates what we already know.
eagle275
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2019-12-04T18:07:25.177Z
Thanks to both of you Peter and eagle 275.
Shaun
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-04T10:46:33.090Z
2019-12-04T10:46:33.090Z
Peter - Reinstate Monica
<p>If there is a way to violate a law of nature, it will become a law of nature as soon as it is discovered, studied and formalized into a scientific theory. Therefore, many new discoveries in science do violate (then current) laws of nature, but will not do so for very long. Often there are all sorts of medals and prizes involved too. </p>

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2019-12-03T19:13:45.427Z
Thank you to tuomas.
Shaun
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2019-12-04T04:48:36.677Z
@Shaun If an answer was helpful, upvote it by clicking the up arrow beside it. After a time, you should "accept" the best answer by clicking the check mark.
chrylis -cautiouslyoptimistic-
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-04T05:07:15.283Z
This does not answer the question of whether it's possible for the laws of physics to be different elsewhere in the universe.
CJ Dennis
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2019-12-04T05:36:46.637Z
What does it even mean that laws of physics would be different somewhere else
tuomas
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2019-12-04T10:10:17.297Z
A problem with this answer is that it assumes nature is comprehensible. If for example the way to violate a law of nature is to get God to intervene, and God's interventions are based on unpredictable whims, then there won't be a new law of nature.
Allure
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2019-12-04T10:46:49.013Z
It's like paranormal. If it happens then it's... normal.
Destal
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2019-12-04T11:26:11.837Z
There are lots of cases where a 'law of nature' is violated, even on this planet (you can, for example, train a tame lion not to eat your pet deer or rehabilitate a habitual criminal). The question was about laws of physics..
Pete Kirkham
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-03T19:03:44.107Z
2019-12-03T19:03:44.107Z
tuomas
<p>Can't there be any way to violates any law of physics? If in our earth we can't violate any law of physics can't we violate in any other planet? </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-03T21:31:35.147Z
If a condition in the universe violates a law of physics, then that law wasn't really a complete picture and whatever revisions come about as a result of the new understanding are closer to the actual workings of the universe. Is it possible to violate the underlying reality that a formalized law approximates? No, that would preclude it being a law.
called2voyage
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-04T07:26:51.900Z
It's not like the laws of physics come from a committee of lawgivers on Earth :) If there is a way to violate the known laws of physics (and there are probably many; this has happened many times before, and will likely happen again - our knowledge isn't perfect), it will work on Earth too.
Luaan
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2019-12-04T08:20:04.940Z
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because this is not about astronomy
Mick
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-04T08:39:38.853Z
Do I understand the question correctly; since relativity violates Newton's second law of motion, would achieving relativistic speeds on the surface of another planet be a valid answer to this question?
JollyJoker
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-04T17:58:56.527Z
OK you guys are senior to me in this . So you can do whatever you like.
Shaun
<modeling>
Can we violate law of physics in any other planet?
Shaun
# Can we violate law of physics in any other planet?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-12-03)

Can't there be any way to violates any law of physics? If in our earth we can't violate any law of physics can't we violate in any other planet?

**Tags:** modeling

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: If a condition in the universe violates a law of physics, then that law wasn't really a complete picture and whatever revisions come about as a result of the new understanding are closer to the actual workings of the universe. Is it possible to violate the underlying reality that a formalized law approximates? No, that would preclude it being a law.  
> **username_2**: It's not like the laws of physics come from a committee of lawgivers on Earth :) If there is a way to violate the known laws of physics (and there are probably many; this has happened many times before, and will likely happen again - our knowledge isn't perfect), it will work on Earth too.  
> **username_3**: I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because this is not about astronomy  
> **username_4**: Do I understand the question correctly; since relativity violates Newton's second law of motion, would achieving relativistic speeds on the surface of another planet be a valid answer to this question?  
> **username_0**: OK you guys are senior to me in this . So you can do whatever you like.  

---

## 4 answers

### Answer by username_9 on 2019-12-03. Score: 20 | Accepted answer

If there is a way to violate a law of nature, it will become a law of nature as soon as it is discovered, studied and formalized into a scientific theory. Therefore, many new discoveries in science do violate (then current) laws of nature, but will not do so for very long. Often there are all sorts of medals and prizes involved too.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thank you to username_9.  
> **username_10**: @username_0 If an answer was helpful, upvote it by clicking the up arrow beside it. After a time, you should "accept" the best answer by clicking the check mark.  
> **username_11**: This does not answer the question of whether it's possible for the laws of physics to be different elsewhere in the universe.  
> **username_9**: What does it even mean that laws of physics would be different somewhere else  
> **username_6**: A problem with this answer is that it assumes nature is comprehensible. If for example the way to violate a law of nature is to get God to intervene, and God's interventions are based on unpredictable whims, then there won't be a new law of nature.  
> **username_12**: It's like paranormal. If it happens then it's... normal.  
> **username_13**: There are lots of cases where a 'law of nature' is violated, even on this planet (you can, for example, train a tame lion not to eat your pet deer or rehabilitate a habitual criminal). The question was about laws of physics..  

---

### Answer by username_5 on 2019-12-04. Score: 14

## Universality of physics

As far as we know, laws of physics seem invariant both across space and time. It's not absolutely certain and taken for granted, there's lots of research probing to try and verify if perhaps something is slightly different far away or long ago, but to our best current knowledge the laws of physics work exactly the same in all faraway stars, because most reasonable changes in fundamental laws or constants of physics would cause some differences that would observable by us.

Our currently known laws of physics aren't final, we know that there are some gaps (mismatch between general relativity and quantum mechanics comes to mind) so there's probably some way to break the *laws of physics as we know them*. But that's not because we can't do it on earth and might somewhere else, it's because we would find out what the real laws of physics actually are and how they differ from our current understanding.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thank you username_5.  

---

### Answer by username_6 on 2019-12-04. Score: 7

**No**.

That's because we believe [the laws of physics to be the same everywhere](https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/11614/do-the-laws-of-physics-work-everywhere-in-the-universe?) (this itself is a consequence of the law of conservation of momentum, via Noether's theorem). Therefore, if you can't violate the laws of physics as we know them on Earth, you can't violate them elsewhere, too.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thank you username_6.  

---

### Answer by username_7 on 2019-12-04. Score: 2

Well, it's possible that physics *as we know them* are somewhat different elsewhere, or on different scales (both microscopic and macroscopic). So if we manipulate our environs in particularly extreme ways, as with the [large colliders](https://home.cern/science/accelerators/large-hadron-collider) or [extreme lasers](https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/01/physicists-are-planning-build-lasers-so-powerful-they-could-rip-apart-empty-space), or if we inspect very large structures, we may observe phenomena not predicted by our current laws of physics.

As an example, there are [discussions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modified_Newtonian_dynamics) whether acceleration by gravitation on cosmological scales "violates" [Newton's Laws of Motion.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_laws_of_motion)

Everybody would agree that Newton's Laws are prototypical physics laws, so a deviating behavior is an obvious violation. (This is a standpoint opposing username_6's post.)

But indeed, as username_9 said, these new findings would be incorporated into the ever-evolving corpus of our knowledge of the world and thus become part of new laws which would not be violated anymore *according to our knowledge.*

The synthesis of these two is probably the following:

1. Our knowledge of the world is incomplete, and so are the "laws" (actually algorithms for prediction) we derive from it.
2. Even though this is pure speculation, my gut feeling is that most scientists would not assume that there is a reachable end of discoveries to be made.
3. Which means that our knowledge will always be incomplete and our predictions will always be wrong *some*where or on *some* scale or under *some* certain condition.
4. And, concluding this and answering your questions: Yes, it will almost certainly and for very principle reasons be possible to "violate" the known, and known to be incomplete, physics *somewhere* or *somehow,* given we have developed the means to observe these places or produce these conditions.

A note of caution: Our astronomical observations show that under a wide range of conditions and scales our ideas seem to hold pretty well, so it is virtually excluded that you can float on Mars, or even on some far-away exoplanet, if you cannot do it here. The "violations" will either be very subtle or very hard to produce or very far away (like in the next universe if you survive that wormhole).

> **Comments:**
> **username_8**: Not really - every physicist knows that Newtons Laws base on some proven false assumptions (like the universal time - and omitting any effects of relativity and speed-limits for information transport) . But we HAVE Einsteins general theory of relativity which fixes the known limits of Newtons laws. Regarding your 4 points - we will never know the truth .. we make assumptions, test them versus reality - and we see if our assumptions hold up or were wrong. Based on that there is always room for better theories. But not to an extend that violates what we already know.  
> **username_0**: Thanks to both of you username_7 and eagle 275.  

---

