Should I take Physics?

Question

i want to be a chemical researcher in the future, and i figure physics could help. what are the main things you do in physics? is it hard? are you glad you took it? what are other classes i could take to help me understand it more? i appreciate any help or answers! thanks a bunch, yahoo-question fanatics!

Answer 1

Physics is about a lot more than motion and gravity. There's also fluid dynamics, pressure, optics, the nature of matter, harmonics, thermodynamics, etc. There's a lot of overlap between Chemistry and Physics, as I noticed this past semester when I took both.

I enjoyed my physics class, especially the lab part. If you have a good professor who knows their stuff it should be fun and not too difficult. In order to make it as easy as possible you should have a firm grasp of basic algebra, because being able to manipulate equations is a large part of it.

Many majors require a semester of physics, so you may not have a choice. Personally, I'm glad I took physics because it's taught me how to solve problems, how to think, and explained how and why a lot of things work the way they do.

Answer 2

Physics is all about motion. Learning about Newton's laws are a big part of what you study. These are like the laws of inertia, action and reaction, and momentum. It isn't too terribly hard if you can understand the fact that the only reason you can walk is because the floor is pushing you. Most physics classes do a lot of labs which are usually pretty enjoyable. I'm glad I took it but I had kind of a hard time with some of it, like impulse.

Answer 3

As a future scientist, you will need to know all the natures laws and physics is just one of them. You'll learn how matter reacts with other matters, how light works, how motion works, how magneticism works, how electricity works, etc. Yes, it can be very hard. Best of all, classes in physics will teach you how to think as a scientist. Observe, theorize, test, and go back to the beginning until you can conclude your findings.

You will find out as you advance through your education, physics and chemistry are really just one science. It's a different approach to the same problem. You'll even find mathmatic and science are the same thing, too. But perhaps, I'm jumping too far forward....

Yes, it will help you greatly.

Answer 4

Well, I would defanantly take precal before physics. I dont know I think it just helps to understand how to work with sin and cos. Also Physics I is about F=ma and laws of motion. Also power, and pressure at the end. It will not help you in becoming a chemical researcher, but if you are going to be a chemestry major, it will be in your degree plan most likely.

Answer 5

How hard physics is depends on how good you are with general word problems involving math and a bit of thinking. I would say if you like caculating how far a ball will travel if you throw it in the air at a certain speed, or like determining car crash speeds, etc then physics is for you.

Also for chemistry, even as a researcher, you only need elementary physics (aka not that advanced)

Answer 6

take it! the main things you do are work with the physical universe determining velocity and such. it is hard. I'm glad I took it. and to understand it more .... Physics is the study of the universe around us and understanding how it works. Studying things such as velocity Newtons laws of motion, Elctricity, Magnetism, etc... We live in a place that has laws (the laws of physics) this course will also help you understand those laws. an excellent learning expeirience.

Answer 7

For Chemistry, physics gives you the basic bahavior of matter and forces and helps you to learn the scientific way of thinking.
I think for most scientific disciplines at least basic physics is necessary, but it is good to know both math and physics for training of your mind.

Physics is hard, it requires work and some memorization,
like math and chemisty ... but if you can do chemistry, you
should not have a problem with physics I think.

Physics is made up of mechanics, dynamics, statics, electricity.
It will help you with the kinetic theory of gases for chemistry.
Nuclear physics, relativity, behavior of light - wave and particle
material behavior, stress, strain, shear, elasticity, springs -
I am not sure I have gotten everything I am going from memory.
Physics also gives on confidence to understand how a lot of
the world, and technology works.

A big YES! Yea for physics! ;-)

Answer 8

Yes. I would recommend it. And yes it is hard. But it feels great when I finished the course (I had three classes in physics in college). It will help you understand the way nature and many things work. When I was taking Physics II (which covered electricity and magnitism) I had to know some calculus (integration and differentiation) I majored in engineering.

Answer 9

Physics and chem are two vastly different subjects . . . . before taking up a course think of the following. . . . . .
1) do you like the subject
2) is it gonna help in the future
3) and finally figure out whether you're taking it because you're forced too . . . . .nothing will come out of it if you're under pressure
in physics you'll learn about everything that happens around you . . . . .if you're interested then its the best thing you can do . . . . .i took it and i'm really loving it

Answer 10

Basically physics is about the law of motion, you know, gravity and such. Yes it's quite hard, but I'm glad I took it, because it helps me with my future career such as aviation.