ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Physical paradox

When we talk about a "physical paradox," we refer to a situation where something seems like it shouldn't be possible according to the way we understand the laws of physics.

Imagine you have a big, heavy ball that you want to push across a flat surface. You know that the heavier the ball is, the harder it will be to push. But what if, when you start pushing, the ball seems to get lighter and easier to push the harder you push it? That would be a physical paradox - it doesn't make sense according to what we know about the laws of physics.

Another example of a physical paradox is time travel. We know that time only goes forward, and we can't go back in time to change things that have already happened. But in stories and movies, people often travel back in time to do just that - it's a paradox because it goes against what we know about the way time works.

Paradoxes are interesting because they challenge our understanding of the world around us and force us to think outside the box. But they can also be frustrating because they don't have easy answers - often, they force us to rethink our assumptions about the world and come up with new ways of explaining things.