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Asked • 03/01/18

How would you define Physics in your own words?

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Andrew P. answered • 12/17/18

"All science is either physics or stamp collecting."— Lord Rutherford, physicist. It follows that physics is the study of the parts of science that are not stamp collecting (he meant taxonomy). At this point I should say something about how physics is about quantifying the behavior of matter and its interactions, which is quite true, but (being honest here) some of physics IS stamp collecting, or how do you explain why physicists were so excited about the discovery of the Higgs boson? New species! Add it to the collection. Anyway, physics is a large field divided into two main camps that work in opposite directions. One group tries to understand what the most basic elements of the universe consist of, and how they interact. These are the particle physicists. The other group ("condensed matter physicists") tries to understand how complex blobs of those elements (matter) behave when they apply the rules the first group worked out.

Asked • 03/01/18

How would you define Physics in your own words?

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Marc P. answered • 03/02/18

Physics is the study of the most basic properties of the physical world. At the high school level, topics typically include kinematics, dynamics, eletricity & magnetism, acoustics, and optics. Other topics that are sometimes taught at the high school level include atomic and molecular physics, fluid dynamics, special relativity, thermodynamics (along with statistical mechanics), and quantum mechanics. Topics that are very rarely taught before college include nuclear physics, general relativity, particle physics, chaos theory, and condensed matter. Astrophysics is often considered a separate field but sometimes considered a branch of physics.

Asked • 03/01/18

How would you define Physics in your own words?

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Answered • 03/20/18

Physics comes down to understanding and considering all the forces and effects that are 'acting on a system'; we can say that better though. Success in classroom physics is about getting familiar with the common situations used to describe specific things (friction, normal force, velocity, electrostatic repulsion, work, acceleration, magnetic fields, etc.) and identifying the common components of the examples so that you can identify any trend your professor throws at you! This involves knowing the formulas, variables, and in the worst case scenario, doing some algebra. All in all, Physics can be a very reasonable class with the right teacher!

Asked • 03/01/18

How would you define Physics in your own words?

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Answered • 03/19/18

At its most basic level, physics is the study of how forces initiate changes in the world around us. When we first learn it, we start with Newtonian mechanics which apply to objects that humans routinely interact with--like stuff that is the size of cars, pulleys, tennis balls, light bulbs, glasses, every day magnets and even rocket ships. With more study, the more advanced student will also learn about non-Newtonian mechanics which encompass things that are enormously huge (like entire solar systems and galaxies) and incredibly tiny (like single atoms). Here, Newton's laws break down, although there are parallels sometimes.