Physics 7B

Physics is my favorite subject.  In my opinion, it is the perfect combination of concrete and abstract.  It is the middle ground between the extremes of classical engineering (purely concrete) and math (purely abstract).  On one hand, there are certain immutable laws of physics that simply cannot be broken.  They are difficult to prove and simply exist for no other reason than “that’s just how this universe works”.  On the other hand, there is room for discovery, ingenuity and creativity in physics.  There are certainly concepts out there that we have yet to reach an intellectual capacity to understand or even prove.  Physics gives the mind free reign to explore while also being grounded in basic principles that prevent the mind from spiraling into insanity.  

Alas, Physics 7B may be the last “physics” class I take.  The basic gist of this class covers thermodynamics and electromagnetism.  As was the case with my post for Math 54: Linear Algebra, I will not delve into the details of the class curriculum as it is a fairly standard follow-up physics class that is taught at many high schools and colleges throughout the country.   Instead, I will once again focus on my personal experience taking this class. 

For starters, I was very satisfied with the opening unit on Thermodynamics.  Thermo was first introduced to me in my sophomore year of high school in Honors Chemistry.  Back then, the subject seemed very intuitive and I did not bat an eye.  Later, in my senior year, I was extrinsically driven to study Thermodynamics in preparation for our school Science Olympiad competitions.  Unfortunately, senior year spells dying motivation for millions of students around the world, and I was no exception.  Ironically, it did not help that my competition partner was already well-versed in the event.  Sure this meant we placed relatively high, but she carried.  However, on the off chance that I did crack open a book, I caught a glimpse of some college-level thermo curriculum which I did my best to digest.  The first unit of 7B finally solidified my understanding of many topics that I had only learned “part-of-the-way” prior.  It just feels great to tie up an admittedly large number of conceptual loose ends, even if it is one year too late!

The rest of the course covering electromagnetism was surprisingly boring.  As much as I enjoyed the thought-provoking problem sets and the 3-problem exams that still managed to stump the class to a 60% average after 2 hours of toil, I did not learn anything NEW.  Even the low-quantity/high-difficulty style of problem sets and exams, which often catch many unsuspecting college freshman off-guard were a novelty.  This can all be accredited to my high school physics teacher, one of the best I have ever had.  I believe he taught our Physics C class at a level superior to Physics 7B.  Additionally, we were taking his 5-problem / 70% average exams long before most other students could fathom how such a short test would look like.  With all this in mind, I cannot genuinely say I learned too much from Physics 7B.  

Nonetheless, the thought that this may be the last class labeled “Physics” I will ever take is disheartening.  But is it really goodbye?  ME C85 comes knocking the very next semester.