How to Develop Conceptual Thoughts for Understanding Physics
Read books that will help., Think., Always return to the most basic and fundamental laws when in doubt., Reconcile., Record your findings., Do problems, using symbols and not numbers.
Step-by-Step Guide
-
Step 1: Read books that will help.
There is a range of books that will break down the complex subjects into digestible examples that help you to really grasp the concepts.
You'll still need to think hard but you'll have fun in the process.
Great examples include:
Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday, Resnick & Walker
- the latest editions, University Physics or any native authors your school/college may recommend.
Be sure not to buy books of inferior quality, as these will just put you off learning.
If you're not sure, ask your teachers about which books to buy. -
Step 2: Think.
Physics becomes tougher or easier depending upon how much you think.
There will inevitably be instances during your reading when you will get stuck and you must ask yourself at that moment
- why would this happen? How can this happen? Push yourself through the questions to come up with answers.
For example, the book could say "Since the forces on the particle in Y direction add up to zero, it has zero acceleration in Y direction" .
Easy one, you think and say to yourself, "that's like obvious"
you have a feeling for it.
It may say this: "If a body is kept on top of another, the latter feels weight of the former".
Here you must stop and see if it is so, and you will find out that the statement is incorrect in its terms, and on top of that, it is not fundamentally true.
Sadly, you will find such statements written in poorly written or badly explained books.
The book then may say, "In a freely falling lift, a body's apparent weight becomes zero".
You should think to yourself about the statement.
It's true, but very easily misinterpreted. , There may come times when your reasoning gives you different answers; in such a case, go to the fundamental law to find out what is actually the reason why what the book says happens, happens.
For instance, see the last example in step
2.
Weight of a body near a planet, W = G M m / r^2, where G is universal constant, M and m are masses of planet and object and r is the distance between the center of masses of the two, the actual definition.
Now think to yourself whether a being in a freely falling lift would replace the planet beneath you? With some brain churning, you will say that step 2's last example is wrong, "that ain't gonna happen!".
Well done friend, good job. , Now if you knew that step 2 last example was written by some reputable author, you may think over your statement again.
Well, you should but do not discard the great result you have obtained by using your brain, which is 100% correct, and try to reconcile your answer with what book says... for this, look at the word 'apparent'.
It suggests that weight appears to be zero and not that weight itself is zero.
This is because many people think that when we stand on a bathroom scale and it gives us a reading, that that's our weight. (Actually, it's our mass
- the bathroom scale gives us mass by calculating weight).
Scale measures weight by measuring the force we exert on it when we stand on it.
In a freely falling lift, the force we exert on it is zero.
Hence, the weighing machine you are standing on in a freely falling lift, will say that your weight is zero! So th apparent weight is zero and thereby you have reconciled your answer with what the book said. , If you follow this approach, many times you will find great results and huge insights which will set you on a totally different level of understanding.
In each case, you must record what you have just derived by your own reasoning in a notebook.
Do this every time you derive something by this method.
Humans forget at a tremendous rate, so recording is important. , Doing problems will strengthen your concepts and after having done a problem, analyze your problem's answer for various parameters being changed.
That will develop your concepts even further, plus it will tell you whether your answers are correct or not.
For example:
You could check what would be acceleration of a block on a frictionless wedge when its angle goes to pie/2 radians, you should get g,
9.8 m/s^2 downwards. -
Step 3: Always return to the most basic and fundamental laws when in doubt.
-
Step 4: Reconcile.
-
Step 5: Record your findings.
-
Step 6: Do problems
-
Step 7: using symbols and not numbers.
Detailed Guide
There is a range of books that will break down the complex subjects into digestible examples that help you to really grasp the concepts.
You'll still need to think hard but you'll have fun in the process.
Great examples include:
Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday, Resnick & Walker
- the latest editions, University Physics or any native authors your school/college may recommend.
Be sure not to buy books of inferior quality, as these will just put you off learning.
If you're not sure, ask your teachers about which books to buy.
Physics becomes tougher or easier depending upon how much you think.
There will inevitably be instances during your reading when you will get stuck and you must ask yourself at that moment
- why would this happen? How can this happen? Push yourself through the questions to come up with answers.
For example, the book could say "Since the forces on the particle in Y direction add up to zero, it has zero acceleration in Y direction" .
Easy one, you think and say to yourself, "that's like obvious"
you have a feeling for it.
It may say this: "If a body is kept on top of another, the latter feels weight of the former".
Here you must stop and see if it is so, and you will find out that the statement is incorrect in its terms, and on top of that, it is not fundamentally true.
Sadly, you will find such statements written in poorly written or badly explained books.
The book then may say, "In a freely falling lift, a body's apparent weight becomes zero".
You should think to yourself about the statement.
It's true, but very easily misinterpreted. , There may come times when your reasoning gives you different answers; in such a case, go to the fundamental law to find out what is actually the reason why what the book says happens, happens.
For instance, see the last example in step
2.
Weight of a body near a planet, W = G M m / r^2, where G is universal constant, M and m are masses of planet and object and r is the distance between the center of masses of the two, the actual definition.
Now think to yourself whether a being in a freely falling lift would replace the planet beneath you? With some brain churning, you will say that step 2's last example is wrong, "that ain't gonna happen!".
Well done friend, good job. , Now if you knew that step 2 last example was written by some reputable author, you may think over your statement again.
Well, you should but do not discard the great result you have obtained by using your brain, which is 100% correct, and try to reconcile your answer with what book says... for this, look at the word 'apparent'.
It suggests that weight appears to be zero and not that weight itself is zero.
This is because many people think that when we stand on a bathroom scale and it gives us a reading, that that's our weight. (Actually, it's our mass
- the bathroom scale gives us mass by calculating weight).
Scale measures weight by measuring the force we exert on it when we stand on it.
In a freely falling lift, the force we exert on it is zero.
Hence, the weighing machine you are standing on in a freely falling lift, will say that your weight is zero! So th apparent weight is zero and thereby you have reconciled your answer with what the book said. , If you follow this approach, many times you will find great results and huge insights which will set you on a totally different level of understanding.
In each case, you must record what you have just derived by your own reasoning in a notebook.
Do this every time you derive something by this method.
Humans forget at a tremendous rate, so recording is important. , Doing problems will strengthen your concepts and after having done a problem, analyze your problem's answer for various parameters being changed.
That will develop your concepts even further, plus it will tell you whether your answers are correct or not.
For example:
You could check what would be acceleration of a block on a frictionless wedge when its angle goes to pie/2 radians, you should get g,
9.8 m/s^2 downwards.
About the Author
James Powell
Writer and educator with a focus on practical lifestyle knowledge.
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