Why Physics Is Hard

This is an intro video from my online classes.

[AriaHarmony]

Back in 2018 I stopped everything I was doing and just sat down to study and master basic arithmetic and algebra for months. Saved my life. Before I had trouble converting between say decimals and percentages, or dealing with some more involved equations with lots of fractions, powers, and so on. Had trouble with graphing too. I just practiced everything as much as I can, mixing the different skills, testing every scenario, using tools like desmos and geogebra to help me experiment with the concepts. Eventually this made algebra a trivially easy thing to do. Best thing I've done in my life tbh, since a lot of my interests are math based.

[sweet_starshine]

Physics is hard when your physics teacher ignores you!

[adioii]

0:05 is the most accurate description of a Physics Student

[Kaldunaa]

I know Calculus well but for me it's harder to get to the maths part than actually do the maths. So understanding the problem and applying physics to it is where I struggle the most.

[dekisuki]

When your basics are not clear, then surely it is hard.

[scenemuch]

My secret? after getting an 'F' in upper division Mechanics, I got a student job tutoring physics. I really had to rework my understanding into simple and consistent explanations. I got more out of it than those I was teaching. Coolest thing: The guy who was struggling, but actually kept showing up, and got better and better. He never tried to "just get the answer". Good Times!
Never Quit. Find the most do-able way to "not give up" and succeed. You'll won't regret success.

[hooh]

Hi, thank you for this analysis. Physics is hard for many students not only because of gaps in their knowledge in maths or because of lack of practice, but also and probably mostly because developing a clear and proper representation (or mental picture) of the problem at hand is not as easy at it seems. As a teacher of physics, I see that a rather large proportion of students in a cohort find it difficult to develop their reasoning. Proper reasoning requires a good knowledge of the notions discussed during the lecture but also an ability to picture mentally the studied problem. This is particularly true for thermodynamics when a key step for problem solving is establishing the correct energy balance.

[MarkoBotsaris]

As an ex-physics professor I know the answer to this question. I’d like to say my college teaching experience is why I know the answer, but honestly my years of helping and attempting to help my “pre-med” or “other” friends and acquaintances deal with their first physics and calculus courses already taught me where the essence of the difficulty lies for some people. The answer is that Physics, and also Calculus, are very often the first place where a whole LOT of students come up hard against the requirement to turn actual understanding and first principles, rather than rote memorization, into practice. It is the first place in our present educational pathways that many students come up against the a brick wall that is very hard to penetrate with rote learning.

Yes, students are exposed to baby versions of this kind of “thinking on your feet” much earlier, like proving theorems in geometry. And they can fake their way though an imitation of the process in algebra and pre-calculus by memorizing and implementing a small set of rules which they are then taught to apply by rote. But the rubber really hits the road in Physics, Calculus, and especially in the required pre-med “Physics with Calculus” - the horror, the horror!

For many students the memorization-heavy, analytical-thinking-minimal method they have used with great success up to then fails at this crucial juncture. “Fails” is perhaps too strong a word since absolute failure would probably have been a gift at this point. In reality it is more cruel that that - the memorization it takes to avoid fundamental understanding, the FAR easier alternative, ramps up exponentially until it reaches an absurd level forcing a crisis in people that haven’t yet had to face such things previously. An (over) simple example - the absurdity of trying to memorize the “formulas” (x = g(t), v = h(t) ) for every trivial mechanical question involving Newton’s laws rather than learning how to apply them ab initio. Anyway, many of the students that are freaking out at this point are experiencing the failure not of their intelligence, but their highly developed, and by this point time-tested and proven memorization-heavy “learning” (and it is not an exaggeration to call this UNDERSTANDING) techniques.

This problem is something very hard - leaving aside that teaching students HOW to think is not really in the job description - for the professor to simply “teach” the student out of. I know from experience the disconnect when a student that wants “help” but is only prepared to accept it in the form of an answer to “tell me which formula I should memorize?” The frameworks for exchange of information themselves are mismatches - or aptly, “the matrix is something one cannot simply be told about, you have to experience it for yourself”. 😂

For a few or the students, the ones that are already prepared, this is a point they experience as a kind of liberation. For the others, especially some of the pre-meds that are “forced” to endure this trial - coming in to the class with an “I’m gonna hate this, but I have to pass and hopefully get an “A” to get into med school” really doesn’t help - it can seem like nothing makes sense anymore. To have this occur at a time when nearly all of these students are also experiencing a new environment, and new social pressures, well that is a recipe for trouble!

[tomofthedepths]

I tried to memorize patterns of procedures of solving physics problems when I was undergrad and eventually realized that it's impossible and you had to be flexible with Maths. Then through a few years I began to see more abstract patterns that I often encounter and I finally noticed IT IS NOTHING BUT ALGEBRA that deal with patterns. Now I'm preparing for phd deffence. Wish I noticed a bit earlier.☠️💀

[bangscutter]

I think it comes down to learning preference. In high school, typically the people who take biology (lots of memorising) don't take physics (very conceptual and math heavy), and vice versa. Chemistry is the "middle ground" (both memorising and conceptual, with mostly arithmetic math, and basic algebra) where both physics and biology students take them. If choice is available, students who take all three of those sciences, or those who take physics and biology, are unicorns.

[greathoonta]

Physics is hard because it takes experience and practice to learn everything. You can’t simply walk in and be really good at it, you need a good teacher. The issue is way too many physics teachers either won’t give you the time of day, or they are just so busy they can’t give everyone enough time.

[catherinemarsh]

The best way to learn physics is to have 1000 questions from the simplest, gradually getting more difficult. Memorise your formula for each topic. Practice writing out or telling someone else your understanding of the concepts of each topic. My physics professor always had the whole blackboard full of questions and our lesson was doing each one and he would also talk about the concepts as we went. I remember after attending my first lecture with him, I was so excited to go home and do the assignment for the week. Who gets excited about physics?

[anthonyclarke]

I was a lost cause at math. The deputy headmaster (Ernie Enderby) gave up his lunch hour to educate me one on one, with no distractions. X & Y meant nothing to me, so Mr Enderby brought in a bag of apples and oranges and used those in place of X & Y so that I could follow, see and visualize the equation.
I failed the exam. I did sit a retake six months later, I passed with the lowest grade. Other subjects I passed easily never gave me the happiness of my math pass, it still pleases me to this day.
I should have gone back to the school to thank Ernie Enderby but I was still young in1973 and had my head up my arse. Thank you Ernie Enderby for giving me your time and effort.

[Caractacus]

It's translating a word problem into the correct mathematics.

[destinyobamwonyi]

Where I struggled so much in physics was the twists and turns in the questions, the subject is already hard enough, and trying to trick people into getting the wrong answer is just diabolical.

[JuliaSoeWin]

I've always dreaded algebra when I first learn it, but now I believe those hard work finally paid off...

[ZR-FC]

I failed physics and ended up with a degree in mechanical engineering. The only reason I passed was because the whole class did so bad, the professor curved final grades like crazy.

The more you do something, the better you get at it. I knew I wanted to be a mechanical engineer and didnt let sucking in physics stop me. Keep getting better at math, keep doing problems, keep pushing yourself to understand and you’ll get it eventually!

[timhowell]

Great video and as an engineer and psychologist, I agree with everything Hafner said. Going deeper however, to be successful in any rigorous academic pursuit, developing critical thinking skills are an absolute necessity. It’s the basis for all logic and math. Developing CT skills takes a LOT of effort and time and does not come naturally to most of us. We tend to believe we are more rational than we really are, so our expectations that maths should be easier to learn than they actually are are usually wrong.

[xxboxofmuffinsxx]

I've always been pretty good at math. When I took relativistic physics I got a reality check on how theoretical I was capable of thinking. Just meet with your physics prof during office hours and send some emails back and forth. The more he/she sees you are trying the more likely (he) will be to help you understand the concepts that he will be testing you on directly. I failed the first test (30% of our grade) and panicked but utilized every office hour session available to study directly with my prof. I ended up acing the midterm (30% of our grade) and think I got a B+ on the final (40% of grade). Ended up passing the class even though I wasn't happy with my overall grade. Still my most memorable class ever with the only one even coming close being differential equations.

[ruslanbabayan]

I teach both physics and calculus and I agree with you 100%. Math is so important. However, I had students who had all A's in math, but did not do well in physics. They just couldn't grasp certain concepts. I think the reason is that in physics no two problems are the same, you can't just memorize some steps on how to solve a problem. In math, including calculus, many procedures, like the product rule, can be memorized without even knowing the proof of the formula using limits. In physics, you can't just memorize that the net force is mass times acceleration. For a simple example, like the Atwood machine, students need to be able to draw a free body diagram and to add all the forces and then solve for acceleration by using algebraic methods like substitution or elimination. That requires a skill and critical thinking.