PHYSICS OF THE UNIVERSE
Welcome the first course in your three-year exploration of science, welcome to conceptual physics! Science is the present-day equivalent of what used to be called natural philosophy. Natural philosophy was the study of unanswered questions about nature. The study of science today branches into the study of living things and nonliving things: the life sciences and the physical sciences. The physical sciences includes areas such as geology, astronomy, chemistry and physics.
Physics is the most basic of all the sciences. It’s about the nature of basic things such as motion, forces, energy, matter, heat, sound, light and the insides of atoms. Chemistry is about how matter is put together, how atoms combine to form molecules, and how the molecules combine to make up the many kinds of matter around us. Biology is more complex still and involves matter that is alive. So underneath biology is chemistry, and underneath chemistry is physics.
The ideas of physics reach up to these more complicated sciences. That’s why physics is the most basic sciences. You can understand science in general much better if you first have some understanding of physics.
Why study Physics?
Physics helps us to understand how the world around us works, from can openers, light bulbs and cell phones to muscles, lungs and brains; from paints, piccolos and pirouettes to cameras, cars and cathedrals; from earthquakes, tsunamis and hurricanes to quarks, DNA and black holes. From the prosaic . . . to the profound . . . to the poetic. . .
Physics helps us to organize the universe. It deals with fundamentals, and helps us to see the connections between seemly disparate phenomena. Physics gives us powerful tools to help us to express our creativity, to see the world in new ways and then to change it.
Physics provides quantitative and analytic skills needed for analyzing data and solving problems in the sciences, engineering and medicine, as well as in economics, finance, management, law and public policy. Physics is the basis for most modern technology.
Physics helps you to help others. Doctors that don’t understand physics can be dangerous. Medicine without physics technology would be barbaric. Students who study physics do better on SAT, MCAT and GRE tests. Physics majors do better on MCATs than bio or chem majors.
This physics course will focus on the following themes in order to support a transition into chemistry:
Welcome the first course in your three-year exploration of science, welcome to conceptual physics! Science is the present-day equivalent of what used to be called natural philosophy. Natural philosophy was the study of unanswered questions about nature. The study of science today branches into the study of living things and nonliving things: the life sciences and the physical sciences. The physical sciences includes areas such as geology, astronomy, chemistry and physics.
Physics is the most basic of all the sciences. It’s about the nature of basic things such as motion, forces, energy, matter, heat, sound, light and the insides of atoms. Chemistry is about how matter is put together, how atoms combine to form molecules, and how the molecules combine to make up the many kinds of matter around us. Biology is more complex still and involves matter that is alive. So underneath biology is chemistry, and underneath chemistry is physics.
The ideas of physics reach up to these more complicated sciences. That’s why physics is the most basic sciences. You can understand science in general much better if you first have some understanding of physics.
Why study Physics?
Physics helps us to understand how the world around us works, from can openers, light bulbs and cell phones to muscles, lungs and brains; from paints, piccolos and pirouettes to cameras, cars and cathedrals; from earthquakes, tsunamis and hurricanes to quarks, DNA and black holes. From the prosaic . . . to the profound . . . to the poetic. . .
Physics helps us to organize the universe. It deals with fundamentals, and helps us to see the connections between seemly disparate phenomena. Physics gives us powerful tools to help us to express our creativity, to see the world in new ways and then to change it.
Physics provides quantitative and analytic skills needed for analyzing data and solving problems in the sciences, engineering and medicine, as well as in economics, finance, management, law and public policy. Physics is the basis for most modern technology.
Physics helps you to help others. Doctors that don’t understand physics can be dangerous. Medicine without physics technology would be barbaric. Students who study physics do better on SAT, MCAT and GRE tests. Physics majors do better on MCATs than bio or chem majors.
This physics course will focus on the following themes in order to support a transition into chemistry:
- Science as a Process—Science is a way of knowing. It can involve a discovery process using inductive reasoning, or it can be a process of hypothesis testing.
- Motion
- Forces (near and far)
- Momentum and Collisions
- Static and Current Electricity
- Non-renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change
- Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change
- The Universe, The Sun, The Earth and Waves
- Transmission and Storage of Information