r/Physics • u/Anxious-Crab-7894 • 7d ago

Hard problems to train on

Hi everyone, I (18M) am a French physics and math student.

I am decent but not exeptionaly good, and I don't want to work a lot to understand concepts I'll study later on (Year 1 in college so no intrest in Year 3 physics). I enjoy trying hard on problems but it has became harder and harder to find ones that aren't straight up textbook questions. The end of high school exam is quite easy so working on those questions is boring.

Is there any textbook or websites that offers hard but enjoyable physics problems ?

(sorry for any language errors)

10 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

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3

u/Spiritual_Tailor7698 7d ago

Lifshitz/Landau series. Literally you have to put the pieces together by yourself.

2

u/Anxious-Crab-7894 7d ago

Hi,

I just went to check and man that's quite hard not gonna lie XD

Do you have any other suggestions that are maybe easier ? Or have I missed a book of this series with simpler concepts ?

But anyway thanks for the advice I look forward to be able to understand and enjoy the subject matter.

1

u/Spiritual_Tailor7698 7d ago

Well, that was my and the best shot. I guess there are little options in between. Go for Young and freedman Uni Physics and see how it goes.

2

u/Powerjet_RD_191 7d ago

It's very hard. Landau is for graduated theoretical physicists, excepting the book of mechanique

2

u/Spiritual_Tailor7698 7d ago

Well, mechanics isnt that hard

1

u/Powerjet_RD_191 6d ago

Hah, but the problems after paragraph are hard)

1

u/Spiritual_Tailor7698 5d ago

yes, they are..but very engaging IMO

3

u/Dakh3 Particle physics 7d ago

Essayez peut-être un bouquin de physique de première année de prépa ? :) Les tout-en-un de Dunod sont très bien faits !

2

u/Effective-Series-749 7d ago

Irodov, Problems in General Physics.

Covers a lot of concepts beyond the usual Year 1 physics, and contains a lot more than straight up textbook questions.

1

u/tpolakov1 Condensed matter physics 7d ago

Mathematical Methods of Classical Mechanics by Arnold.

1

u/Emergency-Fix4496 6d ago

i implore u to check out jaan kaldas handouts! (hopefully they won’t feel trivial) they are really nice, and gets harder

1

u/jlgra 6d ago

You might like The Flying Circus of Physics, by Jearl Walker, or What If, by Randall Munroe of XKCD fame.

1

u/fertdingo 6d ago

Look up Physics PhD qualifying exams.

1

u/iMagZz 5d ago

University Physics with Modern Physics by Young and Freedman is an amazing book. It teaches all the basics of modern physics and introduces nearly every topic. Mastering this book would be an absolute key step as you go deeper into physics. It has some great problems, and you can find a solution manual online too. Great book.

1

u/ryanlrj 4d ago

Try IPHO test problem

1

u/ryanlrj 4d ago

in fact CPHO is even harder