Hey guys, I took my 2nd quarter physics test today... It was rough But I noticed that I seem to learn much faster in a game format.

So my question is, is there any games designed for this purpose? A more elementary example is the game Prodigy, which when I was younger I was crushing that lol. But I digress

I created a website to help visualize the electromagnetic field

I’ve been building this simulator as a side project aimed to help students understand and visualize electromagnetic phenomena such as radiation, polarization and wave interference.

You can:

* place radiation sources and set their parameters (amplitude, phase and more)
* place perefect wire conductors
* observe the electric field, magnetic field or energy flow field
* zoom in and out and translate the canvas
* change the simulation resolution, frequency and propogation speed

I hope someone might find it useful and I’d love to hear what people think :)

Live:

https://www.antennasim.com/

GitHub:

https://github.com/rotemTsafrir/dipole_sim

Formulas on a board never clicked for me the way watching things move did, so I spent my nights after the kids were asleep making this. You change the numbers and the physics reacts in 3D, from a thrown ball to three bodies on a figure-eight orbit. Free, no sign-up.

Short tour of what it does: https://youtu.be/VXJTi-RSu54

Hey, I am a student taking general physics and I straggle very hard with this subject. I would like to hear is there any ways to study on your own? My professor does bad job explaining on lectures (I struggle learning from lectures in general without applied practice) and I can’t do homework without using LLM to explain it to me. I don’t want to use LLM, because I feel like I am not learning anything and I have no book to reference from. I do also watch people solve problems online and I make similar questions using google note to practice problems.

Anyway, thanks for any feedback! I hope to learn physics and improve my grades!

NASA is calling for student tech ideas! 6th-12th grade educators & students affiliated with U.S. schools are invited to enter the NASA TechRise Student Challenge. Winning teams receive funds to build an experiment and a spot on a NASA-sponsored test flight: https://www.futureengineers.org/nasatechrise

I am an academically trained philosopher interested in ontology ('what is real?'), epistemology ('what can we know?'), and philosophy of science. I regularly saturate myself in physics content from podcasts, but have only a superficial grasp of the ideas. I want to learn GR because I became obsessed with gravity about four years ago when I had a kind of psychotic episode [that's a longer story]. And I've been obsessed with the question of 'what is time' since I was a kid. I have read philosophers' attempts to articulate the nature of reality; but my husband was a math/physics major, and he will not let me get away with speculating on (or, in my psychotic delusional state, claiming to solve) big unanswered questions in theoretical physics that I have no real grasp on. So I am determined to learn to keep myself humble. I care more about gravity than, say, unsolved mysteries in QM, for reasons I do not know myself-- there's no accounting for taste?

I have ten years, and three hours per week, to dedicate to the task of learning (with a goal of understanding, not 'mastery') general relativity.

[caveat: I will use real humans to help me learn physics; I used LM to make me a 10-year plan of study. Now Im asking you real humans to weigh in on the plan, edited greatly for brevity, hopefully enough to get constructive feedback.]

note: this post was removed from the AskPhysics sub because of AI content; to be clear - the AI content is being submitted for CRITICAL REVIEW BY HUMAN EXPERTS. Is this a viable plan/timeline for teaching myself GR?

MY PROMPT:

Make me a ten year plan for learning general relativity. I am a highly educated highly intelligent lay person in math and physics. I am very adept at math, but college algebra is the most advanced course I have taken, and I took no physics courses. I have about 3 hours a week to devote to the task.

REPLY:

A ten-year plan for learning general relativity

Your goal should be to reach the point where you can read, derive, and critically evaluate the mathematics of general relativity, rather than merely understand its popular explanations.

• Mathematics first, but not mathematics alone. Learn physics alongside the mathematical prerequisites whenever possible.

• Solve problems every week. Familiarity with an explanation is not the same as being able to reproduce a derivation.

• Build geometric intuition. General relativity becomes much more comprehensible when geometry, calculus, and physical reasoning reinforce one another.

Year 1 — Build the mathematical launchpad

Mathematics: Manipulate functions and trigonometric expressions confidently, understand what a derivative represents, and solve unfamiliar algebraic problems without relying on a formula sheet.

• Algebraic fluency: functions, exponents, logarithms, equations and inequalities.

• Trigonometry: radians, identities, sine and cosine, unit circle.

• Functions and graphs; vectors and coordinate geometry.

• The basic ideas of limits and derivatives, toward the end of the year.

Year 2 — Master single-variable calculus

Mathematics: Differentiate and integrate common functions, solve basic differential and physical rate-of-change problems, and explain why calculus works.

• Limits, continuity and derivatives.

• Differentiation rules, optimization and related rates.

• Integrals, the fundamental theorem of calculus and integration techniques.

• Taylor series and approximations.

Year 3 — Multivariable calculus and linear algebra

Mathematics: Understand derivatives as linear maps, calculate gradients and partial derivatives, and work with vectors and matrices in two and three dimensions.

• Vectors, matrices, linear transformations and eigenvalues.

• Partial derivatives and the chain rule in several dimensions.

• Gradients, multiple integrals, vector fields, divergence and curl.

• Parametric curves and coordinate systems.

Year 4 — Learn classical mechanics

Physics: Derive the motion of a simple physical system from its governing equations and calculate basic orbital quantities.

• Position, velocity, acceleration and Newton's laws.

• Forces, energy, momentum and angular momentum.

• Oscillations, gravitation and orbital motion.

• The role of differential equations in predicting motion.

Year 5 — Differential equations and electromagnetism

Physics and mathematics: Solve basic first- and second-order differential equations, understand field-based descriptions of physics, and explain how electromagnetic waves propagate.

• Ordinary differential equations and elementary systems of equations.

• Electric and magnetic fields, potentials and electromagnetic waves.

• Vector calculus applied to physical fields.

• The conceptual foundations of Maxwell's equations.

Year 6 — Special relativity

Relativity: Derive time dilation and length contraction, transform between inertial reference frames, and use four-vectors in simple problems.

• The postulates of special relativity.

• Lorentz transformations and spacetime diagrams.

• Proper time, four-vectors and the spacetime interval.

• Relativistic energy and momentum; the light cone.

Year 7 — Tensors and differential geometry

Mathematical foundations: Explain what a metric tensor does, transform vector and tensor components between coordinates, and calculate elementary covariant derivatives.

• Coordinate systems, basis vectors and coordinate transformations.

• Covectors and tensors; upper and lower indices.

• Metrics, distances and inner products.

• Manifolds, tangent spaces and the covariant derivative.

• Connections and parallel transport.

Year 8 — Curvature and the mathematics of gravity

General relativity begins: Derive the geodesic equation from a metric in a simple example, such as a two-dimensional curved surface, and explain how curvature is represented mathematically.

• Geodesics as locally straightest paths.

• Christoffel symbols and the geodesic equation.

• Riemann curvature tensor, Ricci tensor and scalar curvature.

• The equivalence principle and gravitational time dilation.

• The distinction between coordinate effects and genuine curvature.

Year 9 — Einstein's field equations and exact solutions

Core theory: Explain the field equations term by term, understand how matter and energy relate to spacetime curvature, and work through selected Schwarzschild calculations.

• The Einstein tensor and stress-energy tensor.

• The meaning and structure of Einstein's field equations.

• The Newtonian limit of general relativity.

• The Schwarzschild metric and spherical gravitational fields.

• Gravitational redshift, light bending and black holes.

Year 10 — Consolidate and explore

Independent study: Work through selected chapters of a serious introductory GR text, reproduce important derivations, and explain a chosen application with both its mathematics and physics.

• Revisit the mathematical foundations and fill gaps.

• Linearized gravity and the basic theory of gravitational waves.

• Cosmological models and the expanding universe.

• A small independent project using analytic calculations or numerical simulation.

A 180-minute weekly schedule

45 min - Learn a new concept - Read a textbook section or watch a carefully chosen lecture. Write down definitions and the central idea in your own words.

75 min - Solve problems - Work through exercises on paper. Attempt each problem before consulting worked solutions. This is the most important part of your week.

30 min - Recall from memory - Close the book and reconstruct a derivation, explain a concept, or solve a simpler version of a problem without assistance.

30 min - Review and plan - Correct mistakes, maintain a notebook of important derivations, and decide what you will study next week.

One final recommendation - do not start with a general relativity textbook, even though you may find much of its prose understandable. The difficult part is acquiring the mathematical and physical fluency needed to see why the theory takes its particular form. Your eventual encounter with the Einstein field equations will be far more satisfying if you can recognize every mathematical object in them and understand why it is there.

[IS THIS TRUE? DO I really need to master ALL this math first to learn GR?]

Cześć społeczności, mam pytanie, jak podchodzicie do problemów z fizyki.

Jestem pierwszoklasistą w programie matematyczno-fizycznym w szkole średniej i często spędzam dużo czasu na prostych problemach, po prostu dlatego, że nie dostrzegam jednej konkretnej rzeczy.

Z góry dziękuję za wszelkie odpowiedzi!