What Skills Do I Need to Study Physics?

As with any field of study, it is helpful to begin learning the basics early if you want to master them. For someone who has decided that they want to study physics, there may be areas that they avoided in earlier education which they will realize they need to become familiar with. The most essential things for a physicist to know are outlined below.

Answer: Physics is a discipline and, as such, it's a matter of training your mind to be prepared for the challenges it will present. Here is some mental training that students will need to successfully study physics, or any science ... and most of them are good skills to have regardless of what field you're going into.

Mathematics

It is absolutely essential that a physicist be proficient with mathematics. You don't have to know everything - that's impossible - but you do have to be comfortable with mathematical concepts and how to apply them.

To study physics, you should take as much high school and college mathematics as you can reasonably fit into your schedule. Especially, take the entire run of algebra, geometry/trigonometry, and calculus courses available, including Advanced Placement courses if you qualify.

Physics is very math intensive and if you find that you dislike mathematics, perhaps you will want to pursue other educational options.

Problem-Solving & Scientific Reasoning

In addition to mathematics (which is a form of problem-solving), it is helpful for the prospective physics student to have a more general knowledge of how to tackle a problem and apply logical reasoning to arrive at a solution.

Among other things, you should be familiar with the scientific method and the other tools physicists use. Study other fields of science, such as biology and chemistry (which is closely related to physics). Again, take advanced placement courses if you qualify. Participating in science fairs is recommended, as you will have to come up with a method of answering a scientific question.

In a broader sense, you can learn problem-solving in non-science contexts. I attribute a lot of my practical problem-solving skills to the Boy Scouts of America, where I frequently had to think quickly to resolve a situation that would come up during a camping trip, such as how to get those stupid tents to actually stay upright in thunderstorms.

Read voraciously, on all topics (including, of course, science). Do logic puzzles. Join the debate team. Play chess or video games with a strong problem-solving element.

Anything that you can do to train your mind to organize data, look for patterns, and apply information to complex situations will be valuable in laying the foundation for physical thinking that you will require.

Technical Knowledge

Physicists use technological tools, especially computers, to perform their measurements and analysis of scientific data. As such, you need to be comfortable with computers and different forms of technology to. At the very least, you should be able to plug in a computer and its various components, as well as know how to maneuver through a computer folder structure to find files. Basic familiarity with computer programming is helpful.

One thing that you should learn is how to use a spreadsheet to manipulate data. I, sadly, entered college without this skill, and had to learn it with lab report deadlines looming over my head. Microsoft Excel is the most common spreadsheet program, although if you learn how to use one you can generally transition to a new one fairly easily. Figure out how to use formulas in spreadsheets to take sums, averages, and perform other calculations. Also, learn how to put data in a spreadsheet and create graphs and charts from that data. Believe me, this will help you later on.

Learning how machines operate also helps provide some intuition into work that will come up in fields such as electronics. If you know someone who's into cars, ask them to explain to you how they run, because many basic physical principles are at work in an automotive engine.

Good Study Habits

Even the most brilliant physicist has to study. I coasted through high school without studying much, so I took a long time to learn this lesson. My lowest grade in all of college was my first semester of physics, because I didn't study hard enough. I kept at it, though, and majored in physics with honors ... but I seriously wish I'd developed good study habits earlier.

Pay attention in class and take notes. Review the notes while reading the book, and add more notes if the book explains something better or differently than the teacher did. Look at the examples. And do your homework, even if it's not being graded.

These habits, even in easier courses where you don't need them, can help you in those later courses where you will need them.

Reality Check

At some point in studying physics, you will need to take a serious reality check. You are probably not going to win a Nobel Prize. You are probably not going to be called in to host television specials on the Discovery Channel. If you write a physics book, it may just be a published thesis that about 10 people in the world buy.

Accept all of these things. If you still want to be a physicist, then it's in your blood. Go for it. Embrace it. Who knows... maybe you will get that Nobel Prize after all.

Introduction to the Scientific Method

The scientific method is a set of techniques used by the scientific community to investigate natural phenomena by providing an objective framework in which to make scientific inquiry and analyze the data to reach a conclusion about that inquiry.

Steps of the Scientific Method

The goals of the scientific method are uniform, but the method itself is not necessarily formalized among all branches of science. It is most generally expressed as a series of discrete steps, although the exact number and nature of the steps varies depending upon the source. The scientific method is not a recipe, but rather an ongoing cycle that is meant to be applied with intelligence, imagination, and creativity. Frequently, some of these steps will take place simultaneously, in a different order, or be repeated as the experiment is refined, but this is the most general and intuitive sequence:

Ask a question – determine a natural phenomenon (or group of phenomena) that you are curious about and would like to explain or learn more about, then ask a specific question to focus your inquiry.
Research the topic – this step involves learning as much about the phenomenon as you can, including by studying the previous studies of others in the area.
Formulate a hypothesis – using the knowledge you have gained, formulate a hypothesis about a cause or effect of the phenomenon, or the relationship of the phenomenon to some other phenomenon.
Test the hypothesis – plan and carry out a procedure for testing the hypothesis (an experiment) by gathering data.
Analyze the data – use proper mathematical analysis to see if the results of the experiment support or refute the hypothesis.

If the data does not support the hypothesis, it must be rejected or modified and re-tested. Frequently, the results of the experiment are compiled in the form of a lab report (for typical classroom work) or a paper (in the case of publishable academic research). It is also common for the results of the experiment to provide an opportunity for more questions about the same phenomenon or related phenomena, which begins the process of inquiry over again with a new question.

Key Elements of the Scientific Method

The goal of the scientific method is to get results that accurately represent the physical processes taking place in the phenomenon. To that end, it emphasizes a number of traits to insure that the results it gets are valid to the natural world.

objective – the scientific method intends to remove personal and cultural biases by focusing on objective testing procedures.
consistent – the laws of reasoning should be used to make hypotheses that are consistent with broader, currently known scientific laws; even in rare cases where the hypothesis is that one of the broader laws is incorrect or incomplete, the hypothesis should be composed to challenge only one such law at a time.
observable – the hypothesis presented should allow for experiments with observable and measurable results.
pertinent – all steps of the process should be focused on describing and explaining observed phenomena.
parsimonious – only a limited number of assumptions and hypothetical entities should be proposed in a given theory, as stated in Occam's Razor.
falsifiable – the hypothesis should be something which can be proven incorrect by observable data within the experiment, or else the experiment is not useful in supporting the hypothesis. (This aspect was most prominently illuminated by the philosopher of science Karl Popper.)
reproducible – the test should be able to be reproduced by other observers with trials that extend indefinitely into the future.

It is useful to keep these traits in mind when developing a hypothesis and testing procedure.

Conclusion

Hopefully this introduction to the scientific method has provided you with an idea of the significant effort that scientists go to in order to make sure their work is free from bias, inconsistencies, and unnecessary complications, as well as the paramount feat of creating a theoretical structure that accurately describes the natural world. When doing your own work in physics, it is useful to reflect regularly on the ways in which that work exemplifies the principles of the scientific method.

Popular Physics Myths

Many legends have arisen over the years in regards to physics and physicists, some of which are quite false. This list collects some of these myths and misconceptions, and provides further information to try to clarify the truths behind them.

Quantum Physics Means the World is Completely Random

There are several aspects of quantum physics which easily lends it to misinterpretation. The first is Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, which very specifically relates to the proportional relationship of quantities - such as position measurement and momentum measurement - within a quantum system. Another is the fact that quantum physics field equations yield a range of "probabilities" of what the outcome is. Together, the two have led some postmodern thinkers to believe that reality itself is completely random.

In fact, though, the probabilities go away when you combine them and expand the mathematics into our own macroscopic world. While the tiny world may be random, the sum of all that randomness is an orderly universe.

The Theory of Relativity Proves "Everything is Relative"

In the postmodern world, many believe that Einstein's Theory of Relativity says that "everything is relative" and it has been taken (along with some elements of quantum theory) to mean that there is no objective truth. In some sense this couldn't be further from the truth.

While it does talk about how space and time change depending upon the relative motion of two observers, Einstein viewed his own theory as talking in very absolute terms - time and space are completely real quantities, and his equations give you the necessary tools to determine the values of those quantities no matter how you are moving.

Einstein's Theory of Relativity

Einstein Failed Mathematics

Even while he was still alive, Albert Einstein was confronted by rumours, both informal and published in the newspaper, that he had failed in mathematics courses as a child. This was patently not true, as Einstein had done fairly well in mathematics throughout his education and had considered becoming a mathematician instead of a physicist, but chose physics because he felt it led to deeper truths about reality.

The basis for this rumour seemed to be that there was one mathematics exam required for admission into his university physics program which he'd not scored high enough on and had to retest ... so he had, in a sense, "failed" that one mathematics test, which covered graduate level mathematics.

More about Albert Einstein

Newton's Apple

There is a classic story that Sir Isaac Newton came up with his law of gravity when an apple fell on his head. What is true is that he was on his mother's farm and watched an apple fall from a tree onto the ground when he began to wonder what forces were at work to cause the apple to fall in that way. He eventually realized that they were the same forces which kept the moon in orbit around the Earth, which was his brilliant insight.

But, so far as we know, he was never hit in the head with an apple.

More about Newton's Law of Gravity

The Second Law of Thermodynamics Disproves Evolution

The concept of entropy had been used, especially in recent years, to help support the idea that evolution is impossible. The "proof" goes:

In natural processes, a system will always lose order or stay the same (second law of thermodynamics).
Evolution is a natural process where life gains order & complexity.
Evolution violates the second law of thermodynamics.
Therefore, evolution must be false.

The problem in this argument comes in step 3. Evolution does not violate the second law, because the Earth is not a closed system. We gain radiated heat energy from the sun. When drawing energy from outside the system, it is in fact possible to increase the order of a system.

Entropy (and Misconceptions)

The Ice Diet

The Ice Diet is a proposed diet in which people say that eating ice causes your body to spend energy to heat the ice. While this is true, the diet fails to take into account the amount of ice required. Generally, when this is considered feasible, it does so by mistakenly calculating gram calories in place of the kilogram Calories which are what is talked about in reference to nutritional Calories.

physics

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Physics - other useful information