Learning To Like Physics

Learning to like Physics

I actually cannot believe how much I used to hate Physics until last year, but then I actually took the time and effort to understand it and?? it’s so cool and fun and easy?? unreal.

It literally seemed impossible for me and I legit thought I wouldn’t be able to graduate because I was never gonna pass Physics (I’m a Math major so we actually have 4 required Physics courses). I don’t know what the point of this is but, don’t be afraid of Physics guys!! (or any other subject!!) yes it’s frustrating as hell and you feel dumb for not having a clue about what is happening or how to work out the problems but I swear once it clicks for you (and it will) it’s gonna be great.

So if anyone needs a step by step (for college/uni), here’s one:

Google is your best friend, the internet has plenty of videos/papers/worked out problems for you to check out. The most important thing to look for is drawings and videos that help you visualize what’s going on. In most of general physics, the key is to see what forces are acting, and from that follows everything else.

Know your core equations. Honestly it’s always the same ones in the end.

For mechanics: you absolutely gotta know Newton’s Laws, Work and its relation to Kinetic/Potential Energy. Momentum is also important.

For thermodynamics: First and Second Law of Thermodynamics; pV = nRT, Boyle/Gay Lussac etc (note that they’re all connected), Carnot’s Cycle.

For electromagnetism: Maxwell’s equations. This is as far as I’ve gotten in my studies.

Understand where the formulas come from, rather than learning them by heart. For me, this was necessary because my memory is absolutely shit so there was no way I could remember every variation. But most of the formulas actually do make sense, and once you’ve drawn out a diagram of what’s happening, you can work them out yourself.

For the previous point, I suggest you watch and rewatch your professor’s explanation until you get the gist. Don’t get discouraged if it’s not immediately crystal clear, seek out other explanations if you need to. Then try to do it yourself.

ASK. FOR. HELP. I cannot stress this enough, do not feel ashamed about asking questions in class or during office hours. There are no stupid questions, and you’re paying thousands every year for people to teach you. Also physics is hard, so you’re pretty much expected to not understand immediately. Moreover, I can guarantee there’s at least one other person in the room with the same question who’s too afraid to ask. I was that person, and I failed the class because of it. Don’t be me.

Practice until you’re able to do most variations of standard problems. Once you’re able to do a certain problem, try to change it and see what happens. You don’t have to crunch the numbers all over again, go with your intuition first. Then you can calculate everything and see if you were correct.

This is all I’ve got at the moment. It applies to General Physics because I’m still pretty shit at Mathematical Physics (Rational Mechanics?) lmao, which is why I don’t talk about Lagrangians and such here.

If anyone has any other tips (for Mathematical Physics as well!) , please feel free to add them. Note that I’m from Italy, and this is what it was like for me. Other countries might have different ways of testing or focus on some formulas that I haven’t included. Do what works for you, obviously.

Good luck STEM students, I know it’s hard, but hopefully worth it in the long run :)

Free Education Resource List

Coursera - a generally good platform, from what I’ve heard. Like most other things, you can’t get actual certificates for free, but the courses *usually* are. Here’s a list of the ~1400 courses where everything but the certificate is free. This list has some pretty enticing courses, like an intro to classical music composition, Greek and Roman mythology, Russian history, astronomy, physical chemistry, and a lot more. The enrollment option you want is called Full Course, No Certificate.

YouTube - Never underestimate the power of things most people have access to. YouTube is an incredibaly powerful tool when it comes to learning things, particularly for things like science and math. My favorite educational channel is Crash Course, which might sound cliché because literally every AP World History class ever uses them, but I’ve literally spent hours watching their videos and taking notes. Just watching a bit of the biology series got me to test out of a lesson in my online bio course this year, which was super helpful.

Another good resource on YouTube is anything art. My favorite surprisingly education channel for drawing specifically is DrawingWiffWaffles, because she explains what she’s doing and why as she’s doing it.

Wikihow - another good resource people make over look because it seems obvious. Material on here I would cross reference with something else, because this can be edited by anyone (I’m pretty sure) and it can get a little shady, but I know there was a physics article that helped me understand electrons so much better.

Math Is Fun - a really solid, simple resource for math, particularly if you struggle a lot. Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of the site and their use of comic sans, there’s quite a lot of information to be found here. It helped me learn calculus, of all things.

Wikipedia - Once again, since anyone can edit this I would cross reference the information you get here with something else, but in all honesty this Wikipedia is my go to for literally everything. There’s unbridled power and pure, unabridged knowledge here, and I will milk it for everything it’s worth. I’ve used Wikipedia for everything from factoring quadratic equations (something I have a strange amount of trouble understanding) to astrobiology to linguistics to the Bohemian Reformation (which resulted in me writing an essay for my history teacher that *almost* saved my grade).

Local libraries are also usually very good centers for learning. I know the one in my town holds a lot of in-person classes (not at the moment) and provides card-holders with a free membership to Universal Class as well as some other online education platforms.

Anyone and everyone can reblog with stuff I missed!

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boozedcowboy

3 years ago

some things i’ve learned while studying in quarantine

drink more water instead of more coffee.

weekly goals are bullshit. set yourself 3-day goals. you’ll be less laid-back.

don’t just mindlessly stare at words. before you start studying, know your approach to it. have a plan.

summarizing the concept in your own words is the key part of taking notes. don’t just copy things down, convert them into your own way of talking, your own vocabulary, no matter how dumb and unprofessional it sounds.

don’t let the “studyblr aesthetic” fool you. studying doesn’t have to be pretty. summaries and notes can be messy as long as they’re comprehensible. you can always rewrite and reorganize them later. (honestly, you better do. and you better keep them.)

don’t throw away the papers you’ve solved your problems in. staple them to the fucking textbook. you need to see them constantly. cause you’ll need reminders of how far you’ve came, when you’re feeling discouraged.

don’t be an armchair analyst for your issues. if you have an idea then act on it.

remember: the exact point where it becomes difficult, is where your growth begins. take a deep breath, and try to focus on the paragraph in front of you.

get off your high horse and understand that if you’re a zero, you won’t go to 100 in a couple of days. first, you’ll need to reach 30, then from 30 to 60, and then from 60 to 90. nobody is 100 everyday. that happens very rarely.

you need to have fun everyday. you need to have peaceful time every single day. even on exam night. especially on exam night, actually. so make sure you’ve studied enough so you can have some time to yourself.

once you’re on a roll and in need of some challenge to stay on track, start writing down your studying hours. tell yourself you’re not allowed to do less than 80% of what you did yesterday. whatever the hell it was, even just one hour. so if yesterday you really studied for like, say 8 hours, today your goal is to study for at least 6 and a half hours. if you can’t keep up with that, make it 70%, or 60%.

be forgiving of yourself. be kind to yourself. even if you bounced back and lost your streak. start again. as slowly as you did before. take your time. it’s okay, you were there once you can get there again.

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boozedcowboy

5 years ago

~True Love~

If Love is a Promise

Gliding off a forked tongue,

But too unknown and tempting to reject;

If Love is Sacrifice:

A debt and inconvenience

Strapped around a life like a millstone;

If Love is Provision:

The gift of necessities

Barely and begrudgingly given;

If Love is Respect:

A trade of raised voices for silence-

Acceptance and worship of flaws;

If Love is a Word

Spoken with false safety

Moments before ears and hearts bleed;

If Love is Comfort:

An embrace between strikes-

The fearful blanket of soft words and terror;

If this is Love,

If this is what is supposed to sustain Life,

We ought to welcome Death with open arms.

~Reigh Lynne

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boozedcowboy

4 years ago

a short french lesson: les negatives

the common french negation with ne/pas is used to contradict or deny a statement. today we will learn more ways to express this, using words other than “pas.”

note : in spoken french, the ne is usually dropped, but i will include it in these examples.

ne… jamais : never, not ever example: je ne suis pas triste means i am not sad, while je ne suis jamais triste means i am never sad.

ne… rien : nothing, not anything example: je n’ai pas de livre means i don’t have any books, while je n’ai rien means i don’t have anything.

ne… personne : nobody, no one, not anyone example: je ne parle pas means i don’t speak, while je ne parle à personne means i don’t speak to anyone.

ne… plus : not anymore, no longer example: je ne travaille pas means i am not woking, while je ne travaille plus means i am no longer working.

ne… que : only example: il ne voit pas les lions means he doesn’t see the lions, while il ne voit que les lions means he only sees the lions.

ne… pas encore : not yet example: il n’est pas arrivé means he has not arrived, while il n'est pas encore arrivé means he has not arrived yet.

ne… pas du tout : at all example: je n’ai pas faim means i am not hungry, while je n’ai pas du tout faim means i am not hungry at all.

ne… ni : neither, nor example: il ne voit ni les lions, ni les tigres means he sees neither the lions nor the tigers.

the odd ones, personne and rien

ce matin, madeleine ne veut voir personne means this morning, madeleine doesn’t want to see anybody.

il ne veut parler à personne means he does not want to talk to anybody.

elle ne pense à rien means she is not thinking about anything.

alright, french lesson over! let me know if i need to change anything or if you have questions. merci d'avoir lu ce texte ☺

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boozedcowboy

4 years ago

we need dipshit people flavored chewing gum, it'd make things easier

I've never seen a cishet dark academic bitch like are yall real??? honestly??? are you hiding from us???? I promise we don't bite, we're busy chewing the homophobes and transphobes

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boozedcowboy

4 years ago