Sounds pretty intense, right? He was the Dutch Physics Professor that taught PHYS 1410. Taking this class over the Summer of 2013 finally wrapped up all the things I needed to be able to go into 2nd-year physics.
Wait.
Hold on.
You just said that you were ready to start taking Physics. How did you leap to second year?
Heh heh. If I didn't pull this off I think the extra year I saved would have stopped me from continuing.
See, first year physics is really just one class: PHYS 1010. Everything else is chemistry, math, computer science, etc. So I just made sure I had 1410 (a replacement for 1010 with a high enough grade) to go straight into 2nd year (in my fourth year, mind). This meant that over the following summers I would need to scrape up those 1st-year classes like comp. sci. and chem.
In fact, this past summer I just took one of the two 1st-year chem classes, and this coming summer I'll be taking the other one.
Let's talk about PHYS 1410!
You learn about:
1d and 2d motion
gravity
friction
electricity and charges
heat
pressure
fluid flow
pressure
fluid flow
and a few other things.
Let me give you a taste of some of these:
Motion:
A ball is kicked off of a roof that is THIS high at THIS angle (up and away) and THIS velocity. How long until the ball hits the ground? How high up is the ball at THIS many seconds? How far will the ball go before falling back down to the same height as the building?
Friction:
A man is standing on a wet roof. The roof is at THIS angle to the ground, and the "coefficient of friction" between rubber and wet shingles is SUCH. Can the man stand on the roof, or will he fall off?
Electricity and Charges:
An object with THIS MUCH positive charge is THIS FAR from another object with THIS MUCH negative charge. How much force is required to keep them in the positions they are in?
So, anyone who has done grade 12 physics right now is going: "this doesn't look so bad"
The answer is: it isn't, really.
This class was fascinating to me, as I learned how some things worked that I didn't understand. It was challenging for me. The professor required a lot of us. Overall, I really en(hated)joyed it.
One snag.
I still wasn't a good student. I only did well enough because the professor pushed us so hard.
Next post: 2nd-Year Classes (This is where physics starts to become really interesting!!)
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