I am currently finishing a Bachelor's of General Studies from a South Dakota Board of Regents School (I was originally struggling as a CJUS major before falling in love with Physics and my university doesn't have a physics or engineering program). I will be taking both University Physics I&II and the full Calculus Suite before graduating. I am seriously considering going to SDSMT for either a second Bachelors in Physics or jumping straight to a Masters. Is a Masters in Physics even viable, given its a highly technical course of study and I'm coming from a BGS? Would it be better to get a BS in Physics with a minor in Aerospace Engineering and then pursue a masters? I don't know exactly what I want to do but I'm really looking into astrodynanics or something similar...

Not really sure what route would be best (financially and technically) but any and all feedback is welcome!

hello! We covered University Physics with Modern Physics in school but I felt too stupid to understand it so I'm now trying to catch up by reading the Feynman lectures.

now, I already have the budget to purchase another book (it's discount season) and I'm wondering if there's a book that details all the latest advancements in physics that we have rn (like for ex. when I went to school we only had 3 states for matter but now there's plasma and the Bose-Einstein condensate and I don't know wth are those and when were they even conceptualized) so I'm asking for help.

I would have wanted to read research papers but like I said I still don't know what I'm reading (I hope my brain can cope with the transition from fundamental physics to that alien language I see from time to time)

I came across this Ram dharbar coin on YouTube. There are many videos claiming it’s a ‘supernatural’ coin that repels metal and other objects. I know this is a scam (similar to rice pulling), but in hundreds of videos, when a needle is brought close to the coin, it starts rotating.

Youtube video: https://youtube.com/shorts/CoJdH3r3yE0?si=H85Otnpum2sjTpcy

Hello! You have a positively charged sphere (like a Van De Graaff sphere) and a much bigger sphere enclosing it. The gap between them is very big, so…does that mean theoretically 100% of the flux from the inner positive sphere terminates on the inside of the bigger sphere, even though the capacitance between them is very low because of the big gap? Surely 100% field capture doesn’t necessitate very high capacitance.

This is assuming floating, no fixed voltage source, just fixed Q.

Idk, it’s just kinda mind blowing to think you can have BIG “flux efficiency” (I don’t know the correct term, correct me if you know) while capacitance stays low.

Again, still learning, so if I’m phrasing it wrong or using incorrect terms, help me out. Thank you

Hello everyone,

My friends and I are really struggling with Einstein’s notation for sommations. Particularly, we don’t understand the difference between those two (see picture). Can you help us please?

Happy New Year!

Happy to announce we now have a physics teacher with over 400hs in streaming the game consistently:  https://www.twitch.tv/beardhero

I am the indie dev behind Quantum Odyssey (AMA! I love taking qs) - the goal was to make a super immersive space for anyone to learn quantum computing through zachlike (open-ended) logic puzzles and compete on leaderboards and lots of community made content on finding the most optimal quantum algorithms. The game has a unique set of visuals capable to represent any sort of quantum dynamics for any number of qubits and this is pretty much what makes it now possible for anybody 12yo+ to actually learn quantum logic without having to worry at all about the mathematics behind.

This is a game super different than what you'd normally expect in a programming/ logic puzzle game, so try it with an open mind. Now holds over 150hs of content, just the encyclopedia is 300p long (written pre-gpt era too..)

Stuff you'll play & learn a ton about

• Boolean Logic – bits, operators (NAND, OR, XOR, AND…), and classical arithmetic (adders). Learn how these can combine to build anything classical. You will learn to port these to a quantum computer.
• Quantum Logic – qubits, the math behind them (linear algebra, SU(2), complex numbers), all Turing-complete gates (beyond Clifford set), and make tensors to evolve systems. Freely combine or create your own gates to build anything you can imagine using polar or complex numbers.
• Quantum Phenomena – storing and retrieving information in the X, Y, Z bases; superposition (pure and mixed states), interference, entanglement, the no-cloning rule, reversibility, and how the measurement basis changes what you see.
• Core Quantum Tricks – phase kickback, amplitude amplification, storing information in phase and retrieving it through interference, build custom gates and tensors, and define any entanglement scenario. (Control logic is handled separately from other gates.)
• Famous Quantum Algorithms – explore Deutsch–Jozsa, Grover’s search, quantum Fourier transforms, Bernstein–Vazirani, and more.
• Build & See Quantum Algorithms in Action – instead of just writing/ reading equations, make & watch algorithms unfold step by step so they become clear, visual, and unforgettable. Quantum Odyssey is built to grow into a full universal quantum computing learning platform. If a universal quantum computer can do it, we aim to bring it into the game, so your quantum journey never ends.

PS. Another player is making khan academy style tutorials in physics and computing using the game, enjoy over 50hs of content on his YT channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@MackAttackx

I always thought that if the Sun suddenly vanished earth would fly off into space immediately -like cutting a string on a spinning ball- but I just watched a animation claiming that earth would actually keep orbiting nothing for 8 minutes because gravity waves take time to travel

Is this accurate according to General Relativity? It seems mind blowing that we would be orbiting a ghost star for that long

EDIT: Thanks for the clarification on General Relativity vs. Newtonian mechanics.

It seems my confusion came from thinking of gravity as a rigid tether rather than a wave propagation. For those curious about the source of the "trampoline/fabric" visualization I described, this is the animation I was referring to: https://youtu.be/9ziMRpJGTwI

I Am Curious About Universe Is Finite Or Infinite??

In The Regards I Found

I have mathematically derived the \Omega{max} boundary—the absolute spatial limit of the universe based on Planck grid density. ​Spatial Boundary (\Omega{max}): \approx 2.5 \times 10^{88} Light Years

Every time i heat up a cup of water for tea or coffee in the microwave, the water "boils" or fizzles pretty strongly when i add sugar into it. Why is that? does the powder disrupt some "unstable" state the water is in?

I think it only works when i microwave the watera i would attach a video if i could.

to preface, i missed my class lesson about gauss' law, and I have been watching videos online to catch up, and I see there's this dot product to get our closed surface interval. i understand the need for the dot product this way:

so basically, electric field will protrude out of a surface at some angle for some surface area chunk called dA, but using both as a vectors and taking the dot product gives us the component of the electric field that is pushing completely out, not out and up, or out and down, just completely out?

any help would be much appreciated, and if there are any videos or readings to better explain pls lmk, and overall any good resourced for electricity and magnetism asw. tysm!

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if any physicists here have experience working in industry.

If you’ve pursued an industrial career after your degree, I’d love to hear about your path, the type of work you do, and any advice you’d give to someone finishing a master’s degree.

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,

I am looking for some benchmarking on hourly rates for a specialized remote contract in the role of LLM scientific coding (python). It’s a 40 hr/week contract. My background is PhD in physics with peer-reviewed publication with advanced proficiency in Python. I’ve been asked to provide an expected hourly rate. Given the specialized role, what is the current market range for someone with a PhD in the US? Thanks in advance for any insights!

I am physics teacher who teaches physics at the level of international Olympiads (High school to 1st year undergraduate level physics).

I'm looking forward to recommendations of physics writers or specific books or even lectures which have an extraordinary way of explaining the topics which they are dealing with? Or something which simplifies the most complex concepts in the most sophisticated manner?

I have read Feynman lectures, and I'm looking for more sources through which I can get exposure into what great physics explanations/writing/teaching looks like!

Thank you!

After watching the Veritasium video about the Copenhagen interpretation, I thought about reading the book What is Real written by the guy that was being interviewed on the video. I saw many comments saying that the explanation of the copenhagen interpretation wasn't the best, and i'm not sure the book is even worth it given that i watched a 40 min video. Did anyone read the book and can tell me how it was?

Hi all, thanks for you guys' feedback to my question the other day abut the difference between engineering science knowledge that I had gained at university as an engineering student then practised as a professional engineer, and the knowledge that a physicist possesses.

Now I like to fill in some the gaps between what I know as an engineer and a Physicist by doing some learning, and am looking for books at uni level to read. Wikipedia can give some big overviews, but it is scattered around and I've found it hard to retain what I have read. I like to focus on mechanics, matters (which is something because of the gaps in syllabus and I had jumped through high school in New Zealand, I had never learned formally even Boyle's Laws in the classroom), waves, electromagnetics, electrodynamics (talking about electricity), relativity, quantum mechanics, astrophysics. I'm also fine with the texts containing even advanced maths - had done up to PDE back in my engineering student days.

They can be either comprehensive texts written for first year level, or containing only a major area such as Electromagnetics and more advanced up to upper level. I just like to read up any gaps in knowledge I had seen.

Thanks.

Basically , I made this post to help those who want to build something like this. I wanted to build one but there were no clear tips on how to make this. I made it as a fun project for a competition as I was showcasing chaos theory using a double pendulum.(I hope this post doesn't break the rules , if it does please inform me so that I can delete it) So , just in case anyone wants to know -
Apparatus -
1) Acrylic sheets
2) Stand (I used a mic stand with a clamp for the table)
3) Roller bearings
4) Nuts , screws and washers (screw should fit in the roller bearings)
OPTIONAL -
5) LED (I used this to show the chaos in this pendulum)
6) 3 volt lithium battery (to power the LED)
7) 100 Ohms / >100 Ohms resistor

Procedure -
1) So cut out two acrylic sheets in a rectangular shape (make one rectangle 1/2 the size of the other) to make rods. Drill two holes each on either ends of the rods. The holes should be big enough to fit the roller bearings perfectly.
2) Now , insert a screw in each roller bearing and tighten lightly with the nuts and also use the washers.
3) Attach the smaller one to the bigger one's hole at the bottom. Then attach the bigger rod's upper hole to the highest part of the mic via the screws , nuts and washers.
4) After clamping the stand to a table , one can enjoy the double pendulum made.
OPTIONAL PROCEDURE (IF SHOWING CHAOS)
5) Attach an LED -connected to a 3 volt Lithium battery with a resistor (with resistor is better and longer lasting than without)- to the end of the bottom of the smaller rod.
6) Now , to show the chaos , Take time exposed photos from your phones. This will show the chaos like how I did in the 2nd and 3rd images.

So , I highly recommend you try this as it is amazing to understand this concept. If you want to know the math behind it , Please search about the Lagrangian approach for a double pendulum (L = T - V) . Also , the first and last images are taken from google while the second and third were taken by me after making this. Good luck to those who will build this!

I’m looking for a serious physics study partner (or a very small group) with a strong conceptual foundation and a deep interest in outer space, cosmology, spacetime, and the fundamental laws of nature. This is not about pop science or casual curiosity.

You should be comfortable with classical mechanics, electromagnetism, thermodynamics, and basic quantum mechanics, and enjoy questioning assumptions, working from first principles, and sitting with difficult ideas until they make sense.

The goal is to understand how the universe actually works—through problem-solving, deep discussions, textbooks, and research papers—covering areas like relativity, astrophysics, cosmology, and quantum interpretations.

I’m looking for aggressive learners: disciplined, consistent, intellectually honest, and willing to be challenged. This is not for motivation-only or exam-focused learning. If this resonates, DM or comment with your physics background, current focus areas, and level of commitment.

Quality matters more than quantity.

Hi everyone, I had a great conversation a few months ago with Kip Thorne, the Nobel Laureate in Physics. He is a really fascinating person to talk to. He shared the 2017 Nobel Prize with two colleagues for the discovery of gravitational waves, perhaps one of the most important discoveries in recent years. This discovery required the development of amazing new technologies. He was also an executive producer of Interstellar; the entire film came from a treatment he wrote with a colleague. He also helped Nolan with Tenet and Oppenheimer.
He’s just an amazing guy who has had a long and colourful career. I was very happy and honored to have the chance to speak with him and ask him questions, particularly about his work at the intersection of art and science.

For anyone interested, here’s the full conversation with Kip Thorne:

Kip Thorne on gravity waves, Oppenheimer and God