I plan to return to school once I finish getting my sh*t together. Thanks for believing in and supporting me.

I'm thinking about finishing in Physics. I have 59 credits towards math and biochem, then 12 credits towards compsci. I still suck at compsci, and biochem creeps me out with all the little bugs.

I need someone to hype me up to study with this new physics app I downloaded. During my breaks from school, I find that getting the ball rolling early in terms of developing a habit of taking notes on something, pen on paper, helps me a lot, even if my notes are on a different language instead of stone cold math.

The app is called Mathematical Methods in Physics by StudyZoom. Flipping through the material, it seems thorough and fair. Each chapter has substance to it, there are 16 chapters, and unlocking chapter 2 onwards required me to watch ads.

I don't mind waiting 60 seconds for a whole chapter of quality information, guess the devs have to eat somehow.

So I've unlocked up through chapter 10. Should I start with chapter 1? I already know some vector analysis and don't wish to get too technically tied up in the basics, but I also know what happens when the basics aren't properly prioritized in these densely mathematical subjects. Yes, so I answer my own question: I should go through the chapter page by page instead of only scribbling down notes on the chapter summary bullet points provided at the end.

Red pens were on sale at the store where I buy pens, so I bought the red ones for 50¢ off, and let me tell you, people fear the red pen. The red pen strikes cold terror and hot anxiety into the hearts of the good American populace. I like taking notes in a different color besides black, switch it up some. But damn if people don't side eye the heck out of me when I get down to studying in public.

Studying in public, working out in public, and brushing my teeth in public makes me feel like my head will go on a pike if someone deems my public performance unworthy. "Oooh! That was less than two minutes!"

See what I mean? Okay. Thanks.

I'm going to start once I get a drink of water. Sounds good.

I'm a first year college student, i used to learn engineering math and physics but when i learn some derivations and math equations i use some ambient music to study and i can focus well and good, like oppenheimer/odyssey soundtracks. Does anybody uses these kind of cinematic soundtracks when studying ? Please say i'm not alone

I am currently in my 4th year of my physics bachelor. but it is not going to my last year so I have to extend my undergrad for 1 semester. I have 2 big concerns.
1- I have a low gpa of 2.30, I calculated and saw that if I pass all my courses with AA and BA my cgpa could be something like 3.20 by graduation. But statistically it seems impossible cuz I’ve never had a semester which I did 3.5> gpa. And of course the remaining courses are harder. And the idea of finishing with a low gpa makes me so stressed that I can’t even concentrate sometimes.
2- I am currently taking a SR course and probably going to do a mathematical physics concentration. But the problem is, the people planning to do mathematical physics concentration are so good. Therefore when it comes to doing my project with a professor in our department, more likely a mathematical physicist (which there are only 3 in our dep.) it seems to be also impossible, because of my gpa and the fact of others being so good.
I am interested mainly in QFT, String Theory, CFT ( although I did only casual readings since they are beyond my physics knowledge ) so I was thinking if I can do a little project by myself, like a derivation in Ads/CFT or other things. Or anything else, because I don’t even have a clear idea about how a project in mathematical physics project is done for undergrads.

I appreciate any advice regarding these two problems or any general advice.

Hello, I'm a 2nd year physics student, and recently in our semester, we have a mathematical physics course. I just want to ask what mathematical physics really is? I know it's kinda a dumb question but I just want to know how it does differ from the theoretical? My professor says it's using mathematical techniques to solve/answer physics, but isn't it really what we are doing now? And so are the other courses? Additionally, to those who did a concentration in mathematical physics, may I know what your day to day and what kind of research in mathematical physics really is? Thanks🫶🫶

Genesis is a free real-time atomic and subatomic physics simulator built for Windows PCs. Instead of relying on pre-rendered animations or pre-scripted events, physical phenomena are calculated live on consumer hardware using official reference datasets (NIST, NUBASE, PDG, CODATA).

​Key Features & Physical Models

​Atomic Level:

​Live rendering of 3D electron orbitals across all 118 periodic elements.

​Photon absorption, excitation states, and alpha decay dynamics (e.g., Uranium-238 → Thorium-234).

​Nuclear Reactions:

​Deuterium–Tritium (D + T) nuclear fusion via quantum tunneling.

​High-energy heavy-ion collisions and quasi-fission (e.g., Uranium vs. Gold, tracking 50+ individual fragments).

​Subatomic & Quark Dynamics:

​10 GeV electron-neutron scattering.

​Quark confinement, gluon string stretching, and string-breaking/hadronization.

​Parton sea dynamics and a hadron construction workshop constrained by quantum color charge rules.

​Technical Implementation & Limits:

​To maintain 60 FPS on standard consumer GPUs and CPUs, the engine relies on physical approximations rather than full ab initio quantum calculations. It is designed primarily as a visual and educational reference tool.

​

Últimamente lo de escoger una carrera me tiene muy estresada y más que en mi país no tengo muchas opciones,por lo general soy una estudiante con un promedio alto (98.8) y si tengo que estudiar no me molesta, pero he de admitir que mi problema viene en que no soy la mejor en matemáticas,o sea no me va mal pero no es mi fuerte, sin embargo me apasiona mucho la física y estaba pensando en carreras como física pura ya que acá no se estudia ingeniería física y también estaba pensando en otras opciones de ingieneria, mi pregunta viene al hecho de que si mi dificultad por matemática podría condicionarme el desarrollo de la carrera.

Ojo:Nunca he suspendido un examen de matemáticas y tampoco he tenido baja nota en ellos, simplemente no me ge dedicado mucho a entender las mates para ser sincera.

Les agradecería la opinión, lo leo ;)

I am student currently in class 12 in an Indian school , non-attending ,first for Jee but I couldn’t do that, cause it was so limiting me to its syllabus when there’s a whole world of unknown out there, so I quit my coaching and started studying on my own when I started 12, though topics of Jee first in more depth(so much time waste is chemistry) , but I realised I couldn’t do it , I needed rigour so went in math and studied broader topics like algebra and calculus but then needed more rigour so I combined my wishes to study math rigorously for theoretical physics to figure out nature reality (I know I sound like an idiot here) and found the perfect course by someone named Fredrich Schuller , but there’s so many doubts and AI can’t explain shit, so you see my problem here ; I need to figure the nature of reality through the approaches of physics and computational neuroscience but I realise I can’t do it alone now ,
So what can I do ?

Hello everyone! I am currently a student at the University of Texas pursuing a degree in computational physics and a minor in semiconductor engineering. I was writing because I was wondering what career paths I could go into, along with some advice!

I'm an undergraduate student in my first year of college in Italy, studying for a bachelor's degree in Physics. I wanted to know some good physics textbooks for Mechanics and Thermodynamics. If there are any, why not a complete/comprehensive book, or one that is really worth reading and is meant for actually learning — so, a calculus-based, non-fiction book? Thank you all.

Hi everyone,I'm a 17 Yr old applying for theoretical physics at uni. Im doing OK in class at school and predicted a star but I always feel as if im behind and everyone else is getting it . What did you do?

I know this was asked before but I really need it now, I exhausted all my options and reaaaaally need it for the semester if anyone has a digital copy lying around

How different they are? I mean the educational system, professors, research culture, etc.

I'm a senior in highschool at the moment and I've been doing research on different universities, mostly by considering if they offer nuclear physics research and have a solid physics program. For some websites they make it pretty clear what they offer (eg. UB) but for others I can't really see if they have any electives for that because their websites are weird and confusing. Should I just give up on trying to specialize early and deal with the fact that I'm going to have to keep doing general physics for my undergrad?

I haven't gotten to use that thing since Algebra II, barely even get to use my scientific calculator. Just curious when that comes back if it comes back

Hey everyone :)

I'm starting three new topics next semester and want to take a look at the material already, get books from the library, etc. Unfortunately, some profs don't recommend any book and haven't done so in the past. I'm an undergrad and would love to study with books that contain problems with solutions. The topics are:

- Solid-state-physics

- Nuclear and Particle physics

- Thermodynamics and statistical physics

Thank y'all! :)

Hello! I am a sophomore in college and I have decided to change my major, but I still am very worried about changing.

I was originally an accounting major, but found that accounting was much more law based than numbers based and that was not very satisfying.

I’ve considered other majors. Math was my first pick but proofs and higher levels do not seem very appealing.

I’ve considered computer science but with AI that field seems like it’s imploding and I do not enjoy coding very much.

My university does not have an engineering program of any kind.

Physics appeals to me because the subject seems interesting, the math seems practical, it feels like it could give me a sampler platter of different areas of science (Electromagnetism, Nuclear, Astrophysics, Quantum), and I feel with a little legwork I could have a lot more options for careers than just being an accountant.

However, I still worry, my worries mainly concern finances, and I’ve heard how hard STEM classes are. My scholarship requires me to maintain at least a 3.00 and I worry the classes will just break me down and I will lose any opportunity of getting a college degree.

So if you have any advice, what you did in undergrad, what you would do in my position, or just anything that you think would be helpful. I would greatly appreciate it.

please help me feel better about bombing my modern exam i studied hard for 🙏

I'm in a physics 1 (calculus based) class. We are allowed cheat sheets for our exams. Here is the exact policy:

"Students may use review notes (a "cheat-sheet") consisting of one 8.5" by 11" sheet of paper (letter-size) written on one side only during all in-class assessments (exams and quizzes). The "cheat-sheet" may not contain any solved problems or answers to quiz questions from the text. Failure to follow this rule will invalidate the assessment."

My cheat sheet for exam 2 contained step by step guides for solving each type of problem with diagrams using only letters/symbols. I was under the assumption that he would not collect the cheat sheets because he didn't last time.

This time, after the exam, he asked everyone to staple their cheat sheet to the back of their exams. I had no choice but to do this, so now my professor will see that cheat sheet with all of the problem tutorials and derivations. Do you think I will get in trouble for cheating because of the in depth tutorials for solving each type of problem? Should I send him an email right now apologizing for "misunderstanding" the policy?

I'm a PhD student in the UK. I find it hard to measure success in the PhD. So papers is the only measure but obviously it's an incomplete measure.

I genuinely want to learn mathematics, physics, programming, computer science, and AI. I want to build a career in computer science, pursue AI research, and hopefully do a PhD someday. But lately, I've been feeling increasingly demotivated.

The problem is that I rely on AI to learn almost everything. Whenever I have a question, I ask GPT. Whenever I don't understand a concept, I ask AI to explain it. And the more I learn this way, the more I wonder: What's the point of learning anything when AI will always know more than I ever could?

Even the most basic AI models seem to possess more knowledge than I could acquire in a lifetime. And with new models becoming increasingly capable, I keep wondering whether the knowledge I'm working so hard to gain will even matter in the future.

With GPT-6, Claude Opus 5.5, Gemini 4, and other models competing to become more capable, it feels like the gap between human intelligence and AI capabilities will only continue to grow.

I want to understand the mathematics behind AI, learn physics, become a better programmer, and contribute to actual research. But sometimes I question why I'm putting in the effort when AI can explain concepts faster, write code better, and potentially solve problems that I might spend years learning to solve myself.

And even when I genuinely want to learn, I'm confused about what I should prioritize learning and whether any of it will remain valuable by the time I become proficient.

I'm not necessarily saying that learning is useless. I genuinely love the idea of understanding how things work. But I'm struggling to reconcile that curiosity with the feeling that AI might eventually outperform me at almost everything I want to become good at.

For those of you studying computer science, mathematics, physics, or AI, how do you deal with this feeling? How do you stay motivated to learn when AI is advancing so rapidly? Do you think deep technical knowledge will still matter for people pursuing AI research and PhDs, or should we be approaching learning differently now?

I saw this term used in the definition of stationary and static spacetime. I cannot however find a formal definition of what it means to be asymptotically timelike anywhere. Any help?

I'm a junior physics student at my state school. I love doing research but I also have commitments at home that make me very hesitant to leave over the summer halfway across the country. My question is, looking at my current experience, should getting an REU at another institution be at the top of my priorities, or can I prioritize my family?

General list of my research experience:

• Academic year undergrad research fellowship on satellites (not in a lab) freshman year
• Summer undergrad research fellowship following the same topic (following summer)
• summer undergrad research fellowship in the major condensed matter physics lab on campus
• continued unfunded research in that same lab that I plan to do until the end of my degree (I plan to apply for funding for summer 2027)
• undergraduate research assistantship at a non-physics department (1 academic year) about environmental policy. I will be co-author on a paper for this project.
• science communications consultant micro-internship this past summer

Additionally, in the spring I will be assisting a class/being in the learning center.

I hover around a 3.5 gpa and I'm an honors program student. My career goals are to get my masters and my PhD in physics. I am also an artist and I love science communication, so thats another career avenue besides research I want to explore.

What should my priorities by in my last couple years? Should I be dropping everything to get an REU at another institution? Thank you!

When meteorite strikes. What happens to earth time period. Assume impulse is negligible the impact from asteroid.

My teacher says , "Assuming the impulse to be negligible ,There is no external torque on the earth, But mass Increases And moi increases,Since Iw is constant , w decreases and time period increase. "

My friend said " angular momentum is r×mv we take derivative to get dr/dt×mv+r×(vdm/dt+ma) so here the torque from vdm/dt must exist "

My answer ,"Why do you think we can Ignore the initial impulse. The only way this can be possible is when the meteorite is the system as well along with the earth(the question might be asking this ) ,So that the force from meteorite is an internal force And hence no torque , we must consider earth meteorite system here , The angular momentum of the earth - meteorite system Is conserved. But now accounting for moi increases , My verdict would be Since meteorite is now on the surface , The mass distribution shall change and Com is shifted, If earth was previously spinning with axis through com , now it's I=Icom+Md² but axis doesn't change and then moi increases , w decreases increasing time period"

What do you think of this