Physics is commonly known for being a hard subject that requires a lot of focus and work. That might discourage most people and make studying physics seem like a tedious chore. However, if you try to look at it from another perspective, physics is a pretty cool subject that you can actually enjoy studying! In this article, I'll give you the tips I used to actually enjoy studying physics!
STUDY SMARTER, NOT HARDER
If you want physics to be easier for you, you first need to find what study technique works best for you. To do that you’ll need to try out new techniques and find the ones that help you best master the subject.
Once that is done, review your past papers, target your weaknesses, and work on them for the next test. By doing that you’ll study effectively since you’ll constantly be improving yourself. Seeing that improvement will motivate you, boost you even more for future tests, and make you enjoy the subject more.
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE
Another way to make physics more enjoyable is by practicing! With practice, you’ll boost your confidence once in front of the test since the questions will be no surprise for you. By mastering practice questions you’ll feel so much more comfortable once in front of the exam and taking the exam will seem fun even. Don't forget to use every resource out there that is available to you such as youtube videos, Quizlet/ Knowt, Khan Academy… to help you understand better and ace that subject!
FAKE IT UNTIL YOU MAKE IT
Want to enjoy studying physics? Gaslight yourself into thinking you actually do enjoy it.
This might sound weird, but as people often say: “fake it until you make it”.
In fact, your brain can’t differentiate what is real from what is not, it believes everything that you say. Therefore don't think of physics as the worst subject ever and switch your way of thinking to a more positive one. Before studying for an exam don't set yourself up for failure by saying “Physics is too hard, I’ll never be able to study all that”, instead realize that it can't be that hard and other people went through that and succeeded so why would you not be able to do so too?
GET INVOLVED IN THE CLASS
This might sound basic but it is an important thing to do. If you try actually involving yourself in class you’ll enjoy it more! If you listen in class and ask questions you won't feel lost and that will play a lot in the esteem you have of that class.
LINK PHYSICS TO EVERYDAY LIFE
This is definitely my favorite one! To make physics less tedious, link the chapters you’re studying to real-life situations and try to see how Physics applies to our daily life! Physics can be boring if you only associate it with the theory and the equation. After all, Physics is there to help us understand better how the world around us works. How cool is that honestly? Linking the theory to the practice will help you understand the topic better and appreciate it as a whole.
Let's use a cool example to give you an idea:
Brian Cox visits the world’s biggest vacuum/ Human Universe- Channel: BBC
As seen in the video, in the first experiment the bowling ball dropped faster than the feather when the vacuum was not empty of air. Whereas in the second experiment, once the vacuum was empty of air, the bowling ball and the feather fell and reached the floor at the same time. This is surprising since they have two really different masses. The average mass of a bowling ball is between 3.63 and 7.26 kilograms and the average mass of a feather is only 0.0082 grams which is 8.2e-6 kilograms. Then if these two objects have that much of a different mass, how come when dropped from the same height they touch the ground at the same time when the difference between the two experiments was only that the first one was done in a vacuum with air and the other one in a vacuum empty of air? Well, we can explain that phenomenon with physics! Astonishing, right?!
First, what is tree fall? As defined by Wikipedia, “free fall is any motion of a body where gravity is the only force acting upon it.” This means that if a body is dropped and it does not experience air resistance but is subjected to the force of gravity then this body is in free fall.
In the second experiment, the vacuum was empty of air therefore the bowling ball and the feather were only subjected to the force of gravity. The bowling ball and the feather were in free fall in the second experiment whereas they were not in the first one since the vacuum was not empty of air.
But how come two objects of different mass fall to the ground at the same time just because they are in free fall? Well, we can use Newton’s second law to demonstrate how objects in free fall are not subjected to their masses.
Newton’s second law says that:
m * a = ΣF
where m is the mass of the object, a is the acceleration of the object, and ΣF is the net force on the object.
According to Khan Academy, “Objects can only accelerate if there are forces on the object. Newton's second law tells us exactly how much an object will accelerate for a given net force.”
You can find more information on Newton’s second law on Khan Academy:
W is the weight of the object, m is the mass of the object and g is the gravitational acceleration (which is 9,8 N/kg on Earth).
Proof that objects in free fall are not subjected to their masses thanks to Newton’s second law:
we know that: m * a = ΣF
An object in free fall has a net force ΣF that is equal to its weight W since that's the only force it is subjected to.
Thus, m * a = W , we know that W = m * g
therefore, m * a = m * g
now we can simplify the masses,
which will leave us with a = g.
Acceleration of the object “a” is equal to “g” the gravitational acceleration for objects on tree fall. Therefore the two objects are not subjected to their masses and they have the same acceleration g which is on earth equal to 9,8 N/kg.
And this explains how a feather and a bowling ball in free fall can fall and reach the floor at the same time!!
By linking the theoretical side of physics to the practical side and daily life, you’ll be able to understand notions so much better and retain them easily!!
I hope this helped you see physics from another angle and gave you ideas to make studying more enjoyable and fun! Remember that those are my tips and things that worked for me personally, they might not work for you since everyone is different but don’t give up and keep implementing. It's not a wasted effort, you just need to find what tricks work best for you! You’ll get there eventually!
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