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Ask HN: How can I start learning physics?

• bcuccioli 14y ago
  Depending on how ambitious you are, for a more rigorous introduction to basic mechanics I recommend Kleppner & Kolenkow. Though if you choose to start with a more basic book like University Physics I strongly recommend K&K as a second book. This assumes you have passing familiarity with calculus.
• masterzora 14y ago
  http://www.staff.science.uu.nl/~hooft101/theorist.html http://www.staff.science.uu.nl/~hooft101/theorist.html is a great starting point. That page is written and maintained by a Dutch Nobel Prize winner who believes that it should be perfectly possible to learn physics from the internet if you know what you're looking for. If you go down the page he also includes references to print texts but the idea is for the web links to be sufficient.
• ninthfrank07 14y ago
  I recommend you the "Intro to Physics: Landmarks in Physics" course made by Udacity (http://www.udacity.com/overview/Course/ph100/CourseRev/1 http://www.udacity.com/overview/Course/ph100/CourseRev/1). I'm currently halfway through it and I'm having a lot of fun doing it! Here's the syllabus of the course: Unit 1: How can we measure the circumference of the Earth? Basics of geometry and trigonometry Unit 2: How do objects move? Data analysis and kinematics Unit 3: What causes motion? Forces, acceleration, and Newton’s Laws Unit 4: How can we use motion? Work, energy, and simple machines Unit 5: How can we determine our longitude at sea? Simple harmonic motion Unit 6: What is electricity? Charge and electric fields Unit 7: What is left to discover? Modern physics and open questions
• mhartl 14y ago
  I taught the physics core curriculum at Caltech for five years, so I'll do what I can to help. For many of the classes at Caltech, we never found a truly satisfying textbook, but when you're learning on your own that's still the route I recommend. This means putting textbooks back on your list for consideration. Buying a textbook for a full 1-2 year college-level physics sequence costs less than $200, much less if you buy used. You have parents, right? Now they know what to get you for your birthday. Your immediate goal should be to get a firm grounding in classical physics, which will be important for everything else you do. When choosing a textbook, the most important thing is to pick one that's aimed at scientists and engineers. That means it should be calculus-based, "algebra-based physics" being a contradiction in terms. If you don't know calculus, you should start there. (This will set you back some more money. Sounds like a plan for Christmas, Hanukkah, etc.) To my knowledge, none of the introductory texts are truly great, but I did some poking around and University Physics by Young, Freedman, and Ford looks like a good bet. If you need to learn calculus, Calculus by Larson and Edwards looks decent. Get the most recent editions if you can afford them, but I'm sure older editions are fine. Those two books alone should take you a year or two to consume, and they are likely to be very challenging unless you have an exceptional preparation in mathematics. But even if you get stuck occasionally, you'll still be way ahead of the curve. (I wish someone had put a calculus-based physics textbook in my hands when I was in high school. I would have been unstoppable. Unfortunately, though it now seems impossible, I went to high school before Amazon or even the Web, so it simply never occurred to anyone.) I recommend supplementing the textbooks with liberal use of Khan Academy videos and Wikipedia articles. More than anything, it is essential to solve a large number of exercises. Developing a good physical intuition is important, but physics is a quantitative discipline, which means being able to do calculations. One more thing: if you want to demonstrate your competence to the world (and to college admissions committees), it's a good idea to take the AP Physics exam (B or C) at some point. The AP Physics C exam is the best one to target if you only have enough time to take one, as it will let you test out of introductory courses at many schools. (Not at Caltech though—we have a separate system of placement exams.) Take a look at the AP Physics C website to see the syllabus. If you decide to take the exam, buying a test-prep book such as 5 Steps to a 5 AP Physics B&C is probably a good idea. If you go this route, try to negotiate with your school to get course credit for your independent study. P.S. At some point, read The Feynman Lectures on Physics. FLP doesn't make for a good introduction, but after you have a foundation it's gold.
• codeonfire 14y ago
  You can get University Physics 11th edition, which mhartl suggested for about $35 used. This will be about 1500 pages and 40 chapters. If you do a chapter per week with problems, you will know basic physics in 3/4 of a year. However, you're going to need to learn calculus as well, so pick up a used calculus book. This is by far the cheapest route. A couple of books, some paper and pencils. My problem with online video courses are that they are SLOW. They take a tiny bit of subject matter that would fill a single page and stretch it out to a 45 minute video. It's far worse if the teacher is a slow speaker. A good solid book is open road, fast as you want to go learning.
• joshlegs 14y ago
  You could always take the Newtonian approach and just sit under an Apple tree ...
  • vitus 14y ago
    And develop calculus, no less :)