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. Physics is a discipline and, as such, its 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 youre going into. Mathematics It is absolutely essential that a physicist be proficient in mathematics. You dont have to know everything - thats 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 too. 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 whos 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 the college was my first semester of physics because I didnt study hard enough. I kept at it, though, and majored in physics with honors, but I seriously wish Id 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 different than the teacher did. Look at the examples. And do your homework, even if its not being graded. These habits, even in easier courses where you dont 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 its in your blood. Go for it. Embrace it. Who knows... maybe you will get that Nobel Prize after all. Edited by Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.

The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald - 1278 Words

Today, F. Scott Fitzgerald continues to stun audiences of all ages with his magically written novel about romance, money, and despair. Though The Great Gatsby was not very popular when it was first released it has made up for lost time and is now one of the greatest classics in American literature and being read in classrooms all across the United States. What actually denotes a book as a classic or great, though? In my opinion, a lot of it has to do with what a person needs at the time. According to James L. W. West III, leading Fitzgerald scholar and English literature professor at Pennsylvania State University, â€Å"[Gatsby] never seems to lose its modernity; it has that kind of staying power† (qtd. In USA Today). That’s one of the best†¦show more content†¦In the same sense, Nick was chasing his dream by moving to the East and trying to fit in with a crowd who would never associate with him, besides Gatsby. Nick was not the same type of person that the oth ers were generally drawn too, and did not participate in the activities that they did. The American dream as explained in chapter 9 by Nick was focused on the pursuit of happiness and self-improvement, which was not achieved by the characters in this novel, yet everyone continues to keep striving and moving forward as best as they can. Nick demonstrates this by saying, â€Å"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Fitzgerald 180). Though a very prevalent theme it was, the American dream was not the only one present in the novel, alongside it was the theme of society and the different social classes. Through my experience, this theme did not seem to stand out as much the first time I read it compared to the previous theme, but it became more prevalent upon each time reading it. The Great Gatsby explores two different sides of wealth in society, new money and old money. People who are the newly rich and happened to their money in â€Å"dirty business† or all at once, live

Global Warming Economic

Question: Demonstrate an understanding of the international economic, environmental, legal and social-political issues surrounding environmental management andsustainability development when it comes to climate change and global warming. Answer: Climate change and global warming: Change in climatic conditions is a long term process, which occurs due to both natural causes, like continental drift, volcanoes, the earths tilt, ocean currents and also artificial causes i.e man-made causes, like deforestation, dam-building, emission of greenhouse gases (Le Page, 2011) like carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, CFCs, and as a result global warming, melting of ice caps takes place. Thus, according to Le Page (2011), global warming may be defined as increase in the earths average temperature in its atmosphere that brings corresponding changes in the climate, which may be the effect of the greenhouse gases. Therefore, it can be stated that climate change and global warming are interrelated (Paul, 2012). Research process: Various details about the Environmental Management for Sustainable Development have been gathered from the environmental laws, rules, legal statements, journals and some books. The research process includes a few issues affecting the climate change and global warming. They are as follows: 1.International Economy The agricultural sector of the world depends on weather or climate (Paul, 2012). So global warming or climate change may affect heavily this farming sector, which is a part of business economy. Similarly, more industrialization means more waste products, more smoke emitting from the chimneys would also cause harm to the environment. So, both environment and international economy are interrelated to each other. 2.Environmental Factors Deforestation,over-grazing, over-irrigation are harming climate change as cutting trees leads to landslides as the roots of the trees can naturally prevent soil erosion, landslides. Green trees can only absorb the greenhouse gases, so these green lives can only save the living world including human beings from the global warming. 3.Legal Factors There are various laws and regulations consulted by the government for betterment of the environment that is in otherwords for human beings. Some of them are Environmental Law, Air Pollution Laws which is Part IV of the Environment Act 1995, Climate Change Act 2008, Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006, Clean Neighborhoods and Environmental Act 2005, Wildlife and Countryside (Amendment) Act 1991 and many more (Kerr, 2012). To be abiding by all these legal laws and rules may seemed to be tougher for public or business units, but these are for betterment of the environment and themselves. 4.Socio-political Factors Socio-political factors indirectly affect the global climate change. The government of the State should increase more awareness regarding the environment among the common people, then the concerned people would follow the rules and regulations and can save their environment. The benefits and challenges experienced: This research strategy played an important role as it provided the scope for gaining more knowledge regarding the environment, the causes and the effects of the global climate change, even the solutions to get rid of the global warming. But to gather these knowledge, a few hurdles had to overcome, like all the legal matters, laws, regulations are confidential matter, which was an obstacle. On the other hand, a public survey was done which was a bit difficult but interesting. Alternative means to ensure sustainable development: Controlling energy demand, more use of renewable energy sources like wind power energy, solar power energy, hydral power energy, again use of biodegradable waste products, more trees plantation are some of the alternative means to ensure sustainable development of the ecosystems and various living beings as a result of climatic change and global warming. References: Kerr, R. (2012). Experts Agree Global Warming Is Melting the World Rapidly.Science, 338(6111), pp.1138-1138. Le Page, M. (2011). Climate known: Greenhouse gases are warming the planet.New Scientist, 212(2835), p.37. Paul, B. (2012). Global Warming and Climate Change: An Observation.J Geogr Nat Disast, 02(03).