Physics - Blog Posts

Classmates watching me in a college level stem oriented calculus class like I’m a wizard for doing multiplication on paper during a quiz

"You won't always have a calculator with you." Was an in hindsight funny as hell thing to say to a bunch of kids growing up at the turn of the millennium, but learning the traditional ways is extremely worth it. If for no reason other than it makes me seem like some sort of sorcerer every time I do math in my head in front of my coworkers.

An integral? No thanks. Double it and give it to the next person.

I have been informed info dumping about math and physics is not flirting, and infact the pretty people at the club think I’m a weird lil critter…

They are not wrong.

My lab supervisor telling me I’m too serious for a Monday lab. Little does he know I’m wishing I was a woman.

Read a paper whose research was of the theoretical nature! It appears thermal physics is Very interesting and I must learn about the generalized uncertainty principle and instantons.

I have an intuition the chain rule was used here but I don’t have sufficient knowledge of differential equations to understand fully how it works

Is it just me or is E&M simply not as intuitive as mechanics? Help

Repetition is pushed in math and physics but there’s an intuition you (ought to) develop as time passes. Physics is intuitive but it might be possible to do well in beginner level classes without having a strong conceptual or intuitive understanding of what systems you’re looking at (it might even be possible to go through undergrad without a strong intuitive understanding as stated by some physics grad students who didn’t have this until after their undergraduate years). As an engineering student I see my engineering peers move through introductory physics but when they try to explain things or solve a problem they haven’t seen before, they have no clue. This is because they trained themselves to do problems. They didn’t train themselves to think. They also rely on equations but don’t have any regard for the derivation. Memorizing equations can get you places but not very far, after a while.

I wish I could think like a physicist. I want to make the right assumptions. I want a grasp on the system without needing numbers. I want to make solid predictions on what will happen in a system even if I’m not familiar with it. I’m not equipped with it now but this is something I hope will be developed as time passes. It’s not a one day development, of course.

I notice mathematical intuition is also something that’s lacking in students because it’s not taught to be a priority. I’m not sure if this intuition can even be directly taught, I don’t think it can be.

I see what you mean when you say practice is encouraged in order to do better at problems and how this idea of developing an intuition, which will be your greatest asset in physics or mathematics, isn’t prioritized.

I think something that was underemphasized in my education was the framing of learning as a process that occurs over time.

I mean, to some extent and more so in certain subjects, you are just looking to accumulate some static information in your brain*. but I think most professors would say they are ideally looking to impart a more nebulous sort of skill in "how to think". like, if you are studying mathematics, you need to know the content, and be able to prove theorems, but you also want to be developing a sort of intuition for thinking mathematically.

[*I said this originally in the draft, but in fact even static information seems to be best acquired through spaced repetition!]

they will tell you to practice problems, of course. but it is framed as a way of getting better at doing the problems, not as a generalisable skill. not like in: you have to move the material through your brain repeatedly in different ways to get its value. not like in: you are trying to forge adaptations, not much differently to building muscle. often like: "it might take some time to understand this [because it is hard and you will struggle with it]" (read: if I'm clever enough I could totally pull it off quickly, skill issue), but not like: time is an actual ingredient in this recipe.

Perpetually discontent because I long for intimacy but I also don’t want others to impose themselves in my space. Don’t act as though we’re close, don’t insert yourself in everything I think or do, don’t take what’s mine. What I like is mine and you’re not allowed to waltz in and treat it as if it’s your own. I feel this about the things I like learning about. It’s mine, find another subject.

I will derive Lorentz factor soon!

Is there a central dogma in physics? How about chemistry? Why not?

Where do small perturbations go to get their hair cut? The ep-salon :-)

G00d an0ther str1ng the0ry hater!

Want to start studying theoretical physics again to better hate on String Theory

New p0cket B1ble just dr0pped!

Go do physics

This is the meanest thing I've ever heard. I'm literally gonna cry.

If it was math tho...god I love math.

It's physics tho...gonna calculate something in km/s real quick /j

I have become the first victim of calculator related accidents that my physics teacher has had in his fifteen year career.

After all what we are ?

A spec of dust within a spec of dust of the universe -)RB

Picture source: Aesthetic Wallpaper app

I can’t decide if I want to pursue a physics or engineering masters after my electronics & communications bachelors is over

can you hear the music?

What's the punishment for breaking the laws of physics?

10-15 years in prism.

Do you ever get that intense yearning to learn in the middle of the night? The universe, the stars, mythology, languages, art, history, culture, physics, psychology, philosophy and anything and everything you can get your hand on. It's as if knowledge becomes alive at night.

what’s the opposite of spaghettification

“A Black Hole Disrupts a Passing Star” Illustration Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech

In many ways it’s the ultimate question in natural science: How does our universe work? Is there a fundamental theory? An incredible amount has been figured out about physics over the past few hundred years. But even with everything that’s been done—and it’s very impressive—we still, after all this time, don’t have a truly fundamental theory of physics.

I LOVE DOCTOR WHO

Yes, I do want to see an interstellar freak running abt the screen and rambling abt timey wimey things to anyone that will listen . I need it burned forever into my retinas so I can function (study for a physics exam)

A sketch of the star system where my story takes place.

I tried to keep it as realistic as possible.

Is did however take some artistic librities to make the story blend better with the world.

Story:

'Proxima Centauri d' has not been colonised.

'Proxima Centauri b' has been colonised and renamed to 'Beacon'. It has a slightly higher gravity than earth and is gravitionaly locked by one side to the star. Regulary blasted by radiation. This was humanitys first interstellar colony. And their eventual refugue after the Exodus.

The astroid belt contains dozens of stations for construction, Ming, transport and more.

'Proxima Centauri c' is a mini Neptune with a ring. Because of it's large size, it's useful for antimatter production. In orbit around it is a spaceport for interstellar travel.

inconsistencies:

Since we can't detect things so small as astroid that means that we don't know it there is a astroid belt in the Proxima Centauri system. But i decided to add one anyway.

It is disputed if the planet 'proxima Centauri c' even exist and where it is. It is also theorized to have a ring. I decided to add it too.

Please notify me if you've Found any other inconsistentcies.

A guestion about realistic interstellar travel

Sorry about my English it's not my first language.

I'm not sure how i should tag this but here we go.

I'm working on my own little hard scifi project and i need some help with figuring out the science.

So i have a ship that travels the distance of 10.26 lightyears at 80% the speed of light.

I think it would take about 12 years to complete this journey. (For a outside observer)

And off course the ship would also need to first accelerate and deaccelerate from that Velocity. That would take about 7 months each. (Constant acceleration of 1.5G during those months)

So in Total these 12 years plus the 1.4 years makes the journey 13.4 years long. But this is only to An outside observer.

I al aware of the effect of time dilation and i also want it to have a prominent role in my story. So my guestion is how much time Will the crew onboard the ship have subjectivly experienced?

Is some of the math i did right? Am i missing something? And does Antoine know how to explain the solution of this in laymans terms becaude i've tried looking it up and i still don't really understand it.

Thanks

Can anyone explain to my teachers that giving us 1h30 to finish an #exam that's supposed to take 3h doesn't necessarily mean we'll be twice as fast ?

okay so for anyone that got an A in physical chemistry … HOW? i was originally pre health but i want to go into research now, so my physics is only algebra based bleh but so far have gotten A in my calculus classes (will be taking calculus 3 spring)

techinally they are my last major class excluding physics 2 and an elective, i have seen the math of physical chemistry it looks interesting but very daunting . SOS send help please with any advice !!!