(I’m not sure why all my posts titles have ended up being from songs. Not planned! I’m not even that much of a music person.)
I got a bit of a late start today, after falling down a rabbit hole of nostalgia while going through some boxes containing stuff from my college years. I read my journal from that time and had some panic when I saw past-self complaining about the difficulty of the Heat, Sound, and Light course. How am I ever going to manage graduate level classes?! But then I remembered that I’m a physics boss and decided not to worry. I did eventually get around to my studying, and I reviewed three chapters today: Work and Energy, Conservation of Energy, and Systems of Particles and Conservation of Momentum.
Most of the concepts here are pretty straightforward, and the “shortcuts” from using scalar quantities make for some fun problem sets. I also appreciate the refresher on elastic vs. inelastic collisions because I always mix that up for some reason. Basic introduction to Einstein concepts (energy quantization and rest energy/Newtonian mechanics applicability), although without any of the fun space-time bendiness yet.
Last night I remembered that I had also planned to learn some Python coding this summer. So that’s another thing to add to the list–but it’s going on the post-Peru list, so I have some time. I’ve done some Python before, but I never stuck with it because I had no use for it. Hopefully having a more concrete motivation will help.
Today’s fun “new” fact: Because the center of mass will always lie on the line straight down from a pivot, if you hang an object from a pivot at two different points, you can find the center of mass!
Such admiration for your shifting focus early in the game. As a procrastinator at heart, I understand a bit more about the ingredients for success: Be Proactive. I used to be. Thanks for the reminder!
As I was reading this entry, I read every word and payed close attention to context. Although comprehension of material escapes me, I’m enjoying learning aspects/elements of physics as you reveal them.
I really enjoyed the fun fact! I actually could visualize two points on earth with a direct line to the center of the earth and I was quite pleased 🙂 if that is an incorrect interpretation of how to find the mass, please don’t tell me for a few days… I rather like the idea of ‘getting it’ 🙂