Physics Basics Introduction Introduction

Welcome to Phyphobics Anonymous.

Not sure if this is the right place for you?

Well, phyphobia is the totally real and absolutely not made up phobia of all phytoplankton and physics classes.

All right, we made phyphobia up. Not because phytoplankton isn’t absolutely terrifying, but because physics is not.

Physics boasts a very long history, and has some very clever groupies like Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, and Isaac Newton, who turned the world upside down writing equations on blackboards. All this history and equations will sweep away any difficulty in our path, so what’s left to fear?

To everyone who loves equations, welcome home.

But what about the rest of us? The handful of people who don’t love equations? What hope is there that we’ll understand something as complex as General Relativity?

The truth is we don’t really need to. We could. If we fancy years of study with reoccurring nightmares of a giant anthropomorphic E = mc² chasing us, then we should go ahead. But physics has a lot to offer to everyone, even the people who don’t plan on using their knowledge of General Relativity day to day.

Anyone who studies physics starts to get a grip with how the universe works on a fundamental level. We’ll shoot rockets, throw balls, drop eggs from roofs, and spend an inordinate amount of time riding on elevators. One thing’s for sure: we’ll never look at butter the same way again.

Confused? Probably, but that’s just the first step. With physics, any problem is solvable, any phenomenon is understandable, and the universe truly begins to make sense. Well…as much sense as a world where Justin Bieber’s “Baby” exists can ever make.

In this introduction we’ll take a peek at some of the broad topics covered by physics, provide some tips for success in the subject, learn about measuring and analyzing data in physics, and discover the importance of physics in the real world. Let’s start by asking ourselves the most important question: What the heck is physics anyway?