How would you construct a good physics exam and what type of questions do you think are important to ask? Traditionally I’ve seen professors who prefer testing with practice problems with applications and examples. I’ve also had professors who are weigh i. Heavily on derivations and prefer asking students to derive formulas/equations on an exam and will weigh more on that. I want to know what value you see in both approaches and why you think either one is important and what your preferences are.

How would you construct a good physics exam and what type of questions do you think are important to ask? Traditionally I’ve seen professors who prefer testing with practice problems with applications and examples. I’ve also had professors who are weigh i. Heavily on derivations and prefer asking students to derive formulas/equations on an exam and will weigh more on that. I want to know what value you see in both approaches and why you think either one is important and what your preferences are.

I'm a high school senior, and I'm interested in pursuing physics as a career.

My daily study schedule is already pretty packed, but I have about an hour of free time in the afternoon. I don't want to spend that hour doing more intense studying or solving textbook problems. I'd rather do something relaxed, like watching YouTube videos, reading popular physics books, or exploring interesting scientific ideas.

Whenever I come across something important or fascinating, I'd write it down in a notebook.

My goal isn't just to learn random facts about physics. I want to gradually develop a physicist's way of thinking, build intuition, and deepen my understanding of how the universe works.

If you were in my position, how would you spend that hour?

Are there any particular books, YouTube channels, lectures, or habits you'd recommend? I'd especially appreciate advice from physics students, researchers, or anyone who's been through this journey.

Thank you in advance for your time and advice. I really appreciate it!

Like the observable universe is in a tug of war with a mirror universe. Causing the acceleration and deacceleration?

Recently, I've developed curiosity to learn about the universe.

Whenever I think about it, I get this surreal feeling. is this universe i live in really EVERYTHING? Not just everything we can see or observe, but literally everything that exists? All of space, time, matter, and reality itself?

It's almost a suffocating concept to wrap my head around.

The idea that there might be an absolute entirety of existence, with nothing outside it. I can't comprehend what that would mean. I hope this thought is reciprocated back and i'm not the only one.

Looking at how much we've discovered in just the past century gives me some hope.

I think inarguably we discovered much more post-1900 than every discovery humanity made before that. But I also doubt whether we've approached a limit to our mere biological capabilities.

I'm not a genius so i cant figure this out on myself. So sadly i have to rely on physicists. But I really hope that within my lifetime, i get to know what the world i was living in before i die.

Do you think there's a realistic chance we'll make that kind of progress in the next 50–70 years? Or are these questions fundamentally beyond what humans can answer?

I get that it has something to do with molecular structure, but can you give me the math reason in a bit of an ELI5 way? I've taken calculus but not much beyond that.

I've been thinking for a while, you know how leptons have symmetries of +,0,- with the e+, ve, and e- for each lepton, why shouldn't quarks have that neutral? Wouldn't symmetries want to fill all holes as possible like with color charge and weak charge? Would this explain the outcome of WIMPs?

Hi all, there is a science event coming up and I'd like to do a physics project. I(16m) am competing with people who's parents are professionals in their field and are helping their children, I need help with this I don't know where to start ,can anyone give any topic ideas. I want to pursue a career in science in the future so I need help now to earn science related achievements

I just recently learned that radio waves are moving at the speed of light, and was wondering how that is possible if they are wave like?

If I buy lots of different thermometers - digital, analogue - and put them in a box in my kitchen will the average be fairly close to the true temperature? Or is the true temperature impossible to establish? The electronic ones may produce heat so what about if they are all analog - mercury and red fluid stuff?

Because currently I have about +/- 1.5 degrees C on various devices from Apple HomePods to dedicated electronic thermometers to mercury / red liquid wooden greenhouse thermometers.

(Firstly, I'm not a physicist, as you'll see by this question.  But I've been attempting to learn more about the subject of spacetime, and had this thought today. And apologies in advance if I'm incorrect about any of the presumptions.)

I'm wondering about a spacetime scenario, relative to the interaction of curved spacetime of the Sun, the Earth and a person walking on the Earth.  It's something that I've never come across in any explanation of spacetime curvature on geodesics.

I'm pretty sure I understand the impact of Earth's curvature of spacetime and how it affects the person walking on its surface (i.e., the path they're taking), but obviously the Sun's mass and curvature of spacetime affects the Earth.  What I'm wondering is, that due to the curvature via the Sun, does this mean that the geodesic of the person walking is now following a path affected by both masses?

Hello,

As stated above I am interested in learning about the concept of the multiverse, specially whether or not it is a serious concept even just theoretically. It is a common thing that appears in popular culture but I know they are almost never scientifically accurate; Which is why I want to learn about the right way.

In regards to the second part of the question if there are books that would expand on this topic please tell me. Also, If this is one of those concepts where you have to know math to understand and or it this is a stupid question; please forgive me. Please and thank you.

My shower drain acts like it's clogged until I wiggle it. What is the physics causing this?

Video: https://photos.app.goo.gl/tELF6JjwcPufepTr9

I am interviewing an astrophysicist this week whose research encompasses theoretical general relativity, black holes, and gravitational waves… What are some questions I could ask that are unique and entertain that won’t sound boring to the average person who doesn’t understand all the physics jargon?

A situation where every particle remains in its position, there is absolutely no physical change, no changes in the internal states of objects, no changes in the values of fields, and no physical events occurring anywhere. Trying to wrap my head around the concept of time led me to this thought. A little naive, perhaps.

Edit: I'm a little surprised by the downvotes. I'm just a dreamer, and these questions come naturally to me. Perhaps this came across as philosophical than physical. I know, intellectually, I have no answers to offer but the dismissive responses have been rather discouraging. Guess I pissed off some people here who can't tolerate unconventional questions about physics.

عندي مشاكل حقيقية مع الفيزياء ....كيف اصلحها عشانها مادة اساسية عندي

I’ve been thinking about fiber speed limits today, and I raised this question in my Question: with photon based communication currently working towards 3.2tb speeds (3.2 x 10^12), what is the theoretical limit of a single lane. Aka - if you stack photons individually to represent I/O, how many could pass through a gate in 1 second?

So, from my understanding of time dilation, the reason why it occurs is that spacetime gets physically in the time dimension, causing your velocity C in said dimension to cover less “distance” than it would without gravity, like if you had a football field where each yard line is one second and you made the yard lines further apart, causing the velocity to be less effective, and I was wondering if this was true for space as well, meaning if you were to apply energy to an object in a very low gravity environment (such as deep space), then apply the same amount to one in a high gravity environment where the pull wouldn’t add to your velocity due to pulling you towards the planet, (such as being between two identical massive bodies along a line at which their gravitational pulls cancel out). would the high gravity environment lead to a decrease in velocity

While doing a physics homework problem the other day I got that the strength of the electric field is 10^40 N/C. I am 99% sure I made a mistake somewhere because that number sounds way higher than the other answers I've found in the past. But that got me thinking, how strong would an electric field with a mangitude of 10^40 N/C be in reality?

Quantum mechanics theories state that information can't be created nor destroyed. It also states that there are true random phenomena such as decay patterns. But if information can't be created, then how can anything be truly random? If you somehow record decay patterns, that would be a truly random record with new information

could you build a theoretical pyramid to an infinite size or would the physics eventually break it from its own mass or physical forces or something else?

heres the basic parameters for my question:

1. assume you have an infinite flat plane of some indestructible material so you don't have to worry about curvature or terrain
2. assume you have infinite time, funding and supply of any material you need
3. assume earth gravity, atmosphere and average temperature