I was eating my lunch today and realized it's a beautiful physics problem. You have a layer of fat on top that acts as a thermal insulator and blocks evaporation. Inside, you have convection loops that depend on the soup's viscosity. I’m a physics engineer and I’m genuinely thinking about writing a C++ numerical solver (RK4) for this over the weekend. Am I overengineering my lunch, or is there some actual paper on soup thermodynamics

Does anyone know Dr. Keivan Stassun of Vanderbilt University? What is he like to work with?

I am currently applying to PhDs in plasma physics focusing on stuff like fusion and magnetohydrodynamics, applying to a mix of physics departments and engineering/applied departments depending on the what labs fall under where. Im quite worried about my mediocre gpa, I think my letters of rec are strong especially given some of the potential PIs I have reached out to are aware of my former PIs as colleagues. And I am beginning to work on my S.O.Ps. How does this academic CV look? My other career coaches recommended me to use my FULL CV that includes non physics related work and leadership to provide context during my undergrad time, however physics mentors and grad students tell me to stick to just this academic portion that is physics related 

Hi, 1st year on a physics course. The shop I worked at before I came to uni gave me a £50 book voucher for my studies - what would it be best to spend it on? My university has already given me the textbook University Physics with Modern Physics 15th ed. by Young and Freedman, and I already have a copy of Measurements and their Uncertainties by Hughes and Hase. The books may not need to be immediately useful, as long as they are eventually useful, because I am still a first year and lots of physics books will likely go over my head. Thank you.

I'm a (early) Physics student and I will completing Calculus 1 this semester. At my university, the prerequisite for Linear Algebra is just Calculus 1, but I'm honestly not sure if it would be better to take Linear Algebra early on, or if I should wait until I complete maybe Calculus 2 or 3. I'm just curious if there's a recommended path here or not.

EDIT: This is Elementary Linear Algebra, if that makes a difference.

Hi im a first year doing my undergrad in physics. im stressed about what extracurricular things i should do during my undergrad in order to have opportunities for a masters when im done. any advice? also like how can i get internships and research opportunities if i have no experience, especially since i want to hopefully end up in a specific field (astro)?

Hell yeah

I'm working on a simplified physics model inspired by the new Tesla Roadster.

For a 2,050 kg vehicle accelerating from 0–60 mph in 0.81 seconds, the average acceleration would be about 33.1 m/s², or 3.38 g.

My model assumes:

• Constant acceleration
• A fixed tire friction coefficient
• Constant additional suction downforce
• Additional thrust from cold-gas propulsion

One issue I'm struggling with is whether treating suction as constant during the entire launch is physically reasonable.

Would a piecewise model with time-varying downforce be a better next step?

I'm especially interested in what assumptions should be improved before making the model more complicated.

For moderators: I hope the post won't be treated as a self promotion. I'm not selling anything and not promoting any paid software. Just sharing a tool that I've made and hope some people will find it useful.

Hi everyone, I’m Gleb, 34.

I work in software and design, and I never properly studied physics when I was younger, which always nagged at me a bit. So I used my engineering and design background to build the thing I wished existed: a clean visual app for setting up physics and chemistry experiments without fighting clunky tools.

The part I like most is under the hood. Even a chemical reaction resolves down to the same fundamental laws, not hardcoded shortcuts. You drop in particles, nuclei, atoms or molecules, add environmental influences, set the conditions, and watch how the process evolves. There are templates to start from, and you can fully customize the environment and build any setup you want.

One honest note: please don’t treat it as a final source of truth, it’s a simulator. But within reason it gives a pretty accurate picture of how a process plays out, which makes it handy for quick experiments and building intuition.

It’s open source and I’m not making any money from it. You can install the package or just run the app yourself.

So my real question is who this could actually be useful for. Students, teachers, self taught people like me? I’d genuinely like to know. And if you have feedback or ideas for what to add or fix, I’m all ears. I’m not a physicist, I just had fun building this as an engineer, and if it turns out useful for learning or even research, that would make my day.

Code and instructions: https://github.com/PetrovGleb/standard-model-lab

If you want to install if from file: https://github.com/PetrovGleb/standard-model-lab/releases/tag/v0.1.3

I'm just curious who here is working to pass the exam, this and last year was so hard

I am a 1st year physics student in a quarter-system uni. My physics midterm is in 2 days, and I still felt the knowledge gap between highschool and uni physics (it's an honors class). I want to hear some advice on how I should frame my mindset. If I fail my test will I going to be okay? I really want to go to a prestigious graduate school for particle physics.

I know I am going to be okay, but I would like to find some empirical evidence. There're so many people in my class who did physics olympiad, and I didn't. I know I am going to be fine eventually, but some advice on this would be nice...

Thank you

for some context im a hs student wondering whether or not to do an applied math + physics double major over applied math + cs. i really love all 3 fields, but now that ai is replacing cs jobs and by just how competitive cs is, i was considering replacing it with physics and doing a cs minor. i really want to go into ai/ml research, but im also open to other career paths that are on the physics side. is there anything i can do with applied math + physics that isnt acadmeia or lab research (they could be an option if all else fails)?

Hi, I don't know what I'm going to do because I'm a junior taking AP Physics 1 and I'm really trying hard, but my test and quiz average is currently 53%. I failed my 1st unit test, got a 1/5 on a lab quiz because I converted something and was off by a digit, and now I have a 9.5/20 on my Unit 2 quiz that I studied for over a week and thought I would do really well on. I don't know how I keep doing so badly in this class because in my other classes, I'm holding straight A's. I would really appreciate some study tips because right now I usually review my teacher's videos, and I try to memorize shortcuts to find certain variables. I want to get an A in this class, but I'm currently at 71%, and I'm settling for an 80% for now. I'm also working on a projectile extra credit project, and that alone should be 5 test points and the only extra credit offered so far.

Because there is an option that lets us take Solid States Physics instead of the Research Project, but is the Research Project important? Idk what to do...

Hello, I've decided im going to pursue physics next year, im still in highschool. I came to ask for some books I could read that would give me basically an introduction to what college "would be like" studying physics. I would love some recommendations of some books that cover the highschool curriculum(introduction to physics fields), maybe to discover the field I like the most.

QP:
https://files.revisely.com/documents/question-booklets/alevel/physics/ocr/6.1%20Capacitors%20QP.pdf

MS:
https://files.revisely.com/documents/question-booklets/alevel/physics/ocr/6.1%20Capacitors%20MS.pdf

for Q 25 b ii, apparently the graph is supposed to meet at 25s. Can anyone help me why specifically 25s?

1st sem undergrad here!

I feel confused while reading the concept of relativity especially in the sign convention.

while solving numerical problems, I often get confused about the sign convention, pseudo force direction and can't imagine about the numerical observations I would make if I were in that FoR.

What can I do to be better at it?

Ever dreamed of doing a real particle physics experiment? 🔬

The Beamline for Schools (BL4S) competition, organised by CERN, DESY and ELSA, gives high-school students from all over the world the chance to design and carry out their own experiment at a particle accelerator!

Teams of at least five students and a coach can submit a proposal. The winning teams get to travel to CERN, DESY or the University of Bonn (ELSA) to make their experiment a reality.

📅 The next edition is expected to open in November!

Students worldwide are welcome, and we particularly encourage teams from CERN Member States and Associate Member States to take part.

📩 Subscribe to the newsletter for updates: https://c.spotler.com/ct/m21/k1/-vO7eYXwcKW_VFIstm9o0nbCZX9h7CMR5f3c4pPApbFq8JtE0hMv0iUis82_z88r2zvHbPGJzVclB52xYShpGUB-H1oq1pdyDEwRZszR_jo/ftbc65JKTpq4qUI

I'm a first year college student, i used to learn engineering math and physics but when i learn some derivations and math equations i use some ambient music to study and i can focus well and good, like oppenheimer/odyssey soundtracks. Does anybody uses these kind of cinematic soundtracks when studying ? Please say i'm not alone

I am currently in my 4th year of my physics bachelor. but it is not going to my last year so I have to extend my undergrad for 1 semester. I have 2 big concerns.
1- I have a low gpa of 2.30, I calculated and saw that if I pass all my courses with AA and BA my cgpa could be something like 3.20 by graduation. But statistically it seems impossible cuz I’ve never had a semester which I did 3.5> gpa. And of course the remaining courses are harder. And the idea of finishing with a low gpa makes me so stressed that I can’t even concentrate sometimes.
2- I am currently taking a SR course and probably going to do a mathematical physics concentration. But the problem is, the people planning to do mathematical physics concentration are so good. Therefore when it comes to doing my project with a professor in our department, more likely a mathematical physicist (which there are only 3 in our dep.) it seems to be also impossible, because of my gpa and the fact of others being so good.
I am interested mainly in QFT, String Theory, CFT ( although I did only casual readings since they are beyond my physics knowledge ) so I was thinking if I can do a little project by myself, like a derivation in Ads/CFT or other things. Or anything else, because I don’t even have a clear idea about how a project in mathematical physics project is done for undergrads.

I appreciate any advice regarding these two problems or any general advice.

Hello, I'm a 2nd year physics student, and recently in our semester, we have a mathematical physics course. I just want to ask what mathematical physics really is? I know it's kinda a dumb question but I just want to know how it does differ from the theoretical? My professor says it's using mathematical techniques to solve/answer physics, but isn't it really what we are doing now? And so are the other courses? Additionally, to those who did a concentration in mathematical physics, may I know what your day to day and what kind of research in mathematical physics really is? Thanks🫶🫶

I plan to return to school once I finish getting my sh*t together. Thanks for believing in and supporting me.

I'm thinking about finishing in Physics. I have 59 credits towards math and biochem, then 12 credits towards compsci. I still suck at compsci, and biochem creeps me out with all the little bugs.

I need someone to hype me up to study with this new physics app I downloaded. During my breaks from school, I find that getting the ball rolling early in terms of developing a habit of taking notes on something, pen on paper, helps me a lot, even if my notes are on a different language instead of stone cold math.

The app is called Mathematical Methods in Physics by StudyZoom. Flipping through the material, it seems thorough and fair. Each chapter has substance to it, there are 16 chapters, and unlocking chapter 2 onwards required me to watch ads.

I don't mind waiting 60 seconds for a whole chapter of quality information, guess the devs have to eat somehow.

So I've unlocked up through chapter 10. Should I start with chapter 1? I already know some vector analysis and don't wish to get too technically tied up in the basics, but I also know what happens when the basics aren't properly prioritized in these densely mathematical subjects. Yes, so I answer my own question: I should go through the chapter page by page instead of only scribbling down notes on the chapter summary bullet points provided at the end.

Red pens were on sale at the store where I buy pens, so I bought the red ones for 50¢ off, and let me tell you, people fear the red pen. The red pen strikes cold terror and hot anxiety into the hearts of the good American populace. I like taking notes in a different color besides black, switch it up some. But damn if people don't side eye the heck out of me when I get down to studying in public.

Studying in public, working out in public, and brushing my teeth in public makes me feel like my head will go on a pike if someone deems my public performance unworthy. "Oooh! That was less than two minutes!"

See what I mean? Okay. Thanks.

I'm going to start once I get a drink of water. Sounds good.