As of this moment, I’m in my second year of undergraduate studies in physics. Therefore, I’ve seen a bunch of classical topics (electricity and magnetism, mechanics, wave motion, elementary astrophysics) while only seeing a snippet of “modern” physics (special relativity, mostly in the form of time dilation). I haven’t taken any classes on quantum mechanics, so I’m definitely a novice there.

When I was in secondary school, I really hated going to French class (I still wouldn’t particularly enjoy it). It wasn’t that the teacher was horrible or anything. Instead, it was simply because I didn’t like taking language classes other than English. I really excelled in English, and the huge chasm in my abilities in French versus English weren’t something I liked being reminded of. In English, not only was I well read and could write, I could also speak well. Conversely, speaking was my weakest link in French. It’s frustrating being able to know all the words that you want to say in your head (and even being able to think them), but not be able to actually express them. As such, I didn’t participate in class at all, preferring to only listen.

In the last post, we looked at the basics of simple harmonic motion, and how the equations is described because of the spring force being applied to the system.

I’ve found that there are two general groups of people when it comes to subjects like mathematics and physics. There are those who memorize, and those who internalize the material. Both can bring understanding to the student, but they are much different.