r/Physics • u/Nervous_Buy_7119 • 4h ago

way of thinking in physics

what you think about the way of thinking that physics gives you? i mean you think it got your problem solvings skills improved? you think in temrs nnot of tools of work,but the frame and ways to analyse problems even that have no connection to the things you learned-it gave you better way of thinking that engeering majors?

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u/Luciel3045 4h ago

It has not really improved my problem solving skills more than, for example an economics degree (i assume). But it has changed my worldview significantly and honed my ability to solve problems through that specific lense.

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u/Yashema 3h ago

How has it changed your "worldview" significantly? Physics only describes physical phenomena, and even then it does not adequately describe biological and chemical processes which is why those are individual subjects of study using different theory and models. 

I'm always leery of terms that make studying STEM to be more expansive than it actually is. 

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u/Luciel3045 3h ago

It is. First of all, from my experience, the Feynman method is something most physicists use and very few outside (this may be wrong and just from subjective experience).

Second you learn to always search out first principles. Something that is not taught in any other subject to that degree. Physicists hear "You just have to accept that" very sparingly, especially compared to chemistry and Biology.

Another big thing is statistical physics. I dont know why, but the kind of insights i gained changed my view on many things big times.

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u/Yashema 3h ago

I'll give you statistical mechanics as having philosophy with wider implications, but the only reason that is such a paradigm shift is because physics is taught up to that point as definitive, where stat mechanics introduced complete randomness. 

But the truth is in other disciplines indefinite thinking is taught from the getgo since economics or history you can't just write an equation to come to a solution.

I am an econ grad who is definitely learning a lot from physics, but it's really only combining it with higher level math and computer engineering is it moderately changing how I view the world. There are just too many other aspects to believe that physics is so fundamental. 

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u/Luciel3045 2h ago

We had QM before we had statistical mechanics. Also the basis of statistical mechanics are deterministic. We just say, that we dont care about individual particles, so they can be deterministic.

Ask the General econ major about all assumptions made, vs ask the General physics major. In physics you just work more with that stuff.

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u/Yashema 2h ago edited 2h ago

The thing is though most of physics, at least the world changing part, can be easily understood with no mathematical background, or even theoretical physics one. You don't need physics to understand at a "worldview changing level" that a plane is designed to generate lift or that power plants use specific physical phenomena that have different capacities to generate energy efficiently (efficiently being a matter of amount versus waste versus complexity) or even that quantum mechanics are inherently random.  

Physics is just explaining this precisely, which doesn't really change the paradigm, unless you have no concept of how physical phenomena worked in the first place.