Physics for everyone who wants to learn and free too!

I posted a part of this previously....


Anyway I will be posting some helpful physics links here...

oyc.yale.edu...

About the Course This course provides a thorough introduction to the principles and methods of physics for students who have good preparation in physics and mathematics. Emphasis is placed on problem solving and quantitative reasoning. This course covers Newtonian mechanics, special relativity, gravitation, thermodynamics, and waves.

Here are the courses...

ocw.mit.edu...

These both come complete with exams and solutions as well as video lectures.


Here is a series of videos from Caltech called the Mechanical Universe.

There are only 4 here out of the entire 52.

Caltech mechanical Universe1

Physics Lecture 01: Introduction This preview introduces revolutionary ideas and heroes from Copernicus to Newton, and links the physics of the heavens and the earth. This series helps teachers demystify physics by showing students what it looks like. Field trips to hot-air balloon events, symphony concerts, bicycle shops, and other locales make complex concepts more accessible. Inventive computer graphics illustrate abstract concepts such as time, force, and capacitance, while historical reenactments of the studies of Newton, Leibniz, Maxwell, and others trace the evolution of theories. The Mechanical Universe helps meet different students' needs, from the basic requirements of liberal arts students to the rigorous demands of science and engineering majors. This series is also valuable for teacher professional development.

Caltech mechanical Universe2

Physics Lecture 02: The Law of Falling Bodies Galileo's imaginative experiments proved that all bodies fall with the same constant acceleration. This series helps teachers demystify physics by showing students what it looks like. Field trips to hot-air balloon events, symphony concerts, bicycle shops, and other locales make complex concepts more accessible. Inventive computer graphics illustrate abstract concepts such as time, force, and capacitance, while historical reenactments of the studies of Newton, Leibniz, Maxwell, and others trace the evolution of theories. The Mechanical Universe helps meet different students' needs, from the basic requirements of liberal arts students to the rigorous demands of science and engineering majors. This series is also valuable for teacher professional development.

Caltech mechanical Universe3

Physics Lecture 03: Derivatives The function of mathematics in physical science and the derivative as a practical tool. This series helps teachers demystify physics by showing students what it looks like. Field trips to hot-air balloon events, symphony concerts, bicycle shops, and other locales make complex concepts more accessible. Inventive computer graphics illustrate abstract concepts such as time, force, and capacitance, while historical reenactments of the studies of Newton, Leibniz, Maxwell, and others trace the evolution of theories. The Mechanical Universe helps meet different students' needs, from the basic requirements of liberal arts students to the rigorous demands of science and engineering majors. This series is also valuable for teacher professional development.

Caltech mechanical Universe4

Physics Lecture 04: Inertia Galileo risks his favored status to answer the questions of the universe with his law of inertia. This series helps teachers demystify physics by showing students what it looks like. Field trips to hot-air balloon events, symphony concerts, bicycle shops, and other locales make complex concepts more accessible. Inventive computer graphics illustrate abstract concepts such as time, force, and capacitance, while historical reenactments of the studies of Newton, Leibniz, Maxwell, and others trace the evolution of theories. The Mechanical Universe helps meet different students' needs, from the basic requirements of liberal arts students to the rigorous demands of science and engineering majors. This series is also valuable for teacher professional development.

Along with some tutorials on math for those who are mathematically challenged....

www.mathtv.com...

www.khanacademy.org...

The Khan Academy is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere. We have 1600+ videos on YouTube covering everything from basic arithmetic and algebra to differential equations, physics, chemistry, biology and finance which have been recorded by Salman Khan. To keep abreast of new videos as we add them, subscribe to the Khan Academy channel on YouTube. The entire video library is shown below. Just click on a category or video title to start learning from the Khan Academy!

mathworld.wolfram.com...

MathWorldTM is the web's most extensive mathematical resource, provided as a free service to the world's mathematics and internet communities as part of a commitment to education and educational outreach by Wolfram Research, makers of Mathematica. MathWorld has been assembled over more than a decade by Eric W. Weisstein with assistance from thousands of contributors. Since its contents first appeared online in 1995, MathWorld has emerged as a nexus of mathematical information in both the mathematics and educational communities. It not only reaches millions of readers from all continents of the globe, but also serves as a clearinghouse for new mathematical discoveries that are routinely contributed by researchers. Its entries are extensively referenced in journals and books spanning all educational levels, including those read by researchers, elementary school students and teachers, engineers, and hobbyists.

scienceworld.wolfram.com...

Eric Weisstein's World of Science contains budding encyclopedias of astronomy, scientific biography, chemistry, and physics. This resource has been assembled over more than a decade by internet encyclopedist Eric W. Weisstein with assistance from the internet community. Eric Weisstein's World of Science is written and maintained by the author as a public service for scientific knowledge and education. Although it is often difficult to find explanations for technical subjects that are both clear and accessible, this web site bridges the gap by placing an interlinked framework of mathematical exposition and illustrative examples at the fingertips of every internet user.

My favorites are the khan academy ones, math tv, and the Caltech series. MIT has a vast amount of video lectures exams along with solutions and lecture notes.

I like the Yale ones. Their professor explains the topics clearly and concisely, though I wish he could have done more experiments on it.

But I hope you guys enjoy them all!
(Have fun!)

[edit on 3-8-2010 by Gentill Abdulla]

What ever happened to the library? Knowledge has been free forever.

If no library talk to somebody and learn what they know. If nobody to talk to go out and observe. Used to be man could learn by observation. I guess we're all too stupid to do that now?

There were several threads last year about this same time where people were apparently blown away by all of the information available online. They posted about the MIT course materials and the Yale course materials and it went on and on and on about how great it was to see some guys notes online.

It's like everything that has always been was just repackaged into a nifty "look, us elites are helping you out" package and people were fawning all over it.

Unless they're going to hand me a free degree for my efforts there isnt anything new here.

What I really wonder is, has any lunatic actually put one of these so-called courses on their resume? And if so has it impressed anyone?

Ah, here's one Dec 2009 www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 3-8-2010 by thisguyrighthere]

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


It's called helping someone.You know its just for those that need it.

But I guess you wouldn't want help when dangling from the ledge of a skyscraper?

I mean if you were just going to be all negative then why even bother posting?

And nobody said I was elite.

I have this book, Handbook of mathematical, scientific, and engineering formulas, tables, functions, graphs, transforms

1000 pages in small print with almost every damn thing you can imagine.

Picked it up for a buck at a thrift sale.

From the REA and it is way more then I could ever use. There are things in there that just, anyway examples.

Probability of death at differing ages

approximate time tolerance temperature with optimum clothing chart

stimulation intensity ranges of differing senses

The expansion and contraction of material bent with differing radii

stress tensor components for newtonian fluids

mechanics of materials

thermal conductivity of elements

I mean, I went kinda far in mathematics, physics, electrical, electronics etc.

But this reference book has things I would never even thought that people had put together charts, graphs, whatever. It is like a goldmine.

Probably too much info. Thanks for the links. Every now and then I like to go through my mathematics to see if I can use them. Over the last 10-15 years, I have never really used them.

I think the mathematical field is almost like a foreign language, if you do not use it, you lose it. At least for me. The other day someone asked me to do some min and max calculations for profitability models. Things I use to be able to do in my sleep. God, it was like actual work again.

Anyway, thanks for the links.

reply to post by endisnighe


There is a book called "The road to reality" by Roger Penrose.

www.amazon.com...

While I have watched many of the MIT lectures, Math.tv and Standford lectures, it just seems as though Sal Khan, from the Khan Academy, is the best choice.

Why? Well, I think because he makes an effort to show that he is a genuine human while teaching. He makes many mistakes in his videos, potential mistakes anyone could make. When this is done, us learners can relate very well, while not feeling so intimidated.

More often than not, college textbooks, college professors, etc, tend to portray an infallible mind, as if they are incapable of mistakes. This can have only detrimental affects on a wide scale. Perhaps some fight back, but some will drop out with the attitude, "I am just not smart enough to pursue Physics, or Mathematics as a career, so I chose English." Being in college as long as I have, I have heard this time and time again.

Its a shame because these science areas, especially Mathematics, can also be easily portrayed as monotonous, and tedious plug and chug formulas, via the media (TV, movies), word of mouth, and in actual high school. This turns people away from these areas, where they claim, "Math is boring", "Math is too hard", etc. Of course, it also does not help that these areas are deemed "nerd" subjects of study. To be "cool" and "normal", one should be acquainted with up-to-the-date media vs. learning what our ancestors struggled so hard to discover.

In no way am I saying that some are just plainly not interested. There are plenty. However, I will assert that while one may not be innately interested, one can appreciate these areas if given the kind of environment and teaching style that Sal Khan has given to the public: 'free of social pressures', and an image of a fallible human.





[edit on 3-8-2010 by Unlimitedpossibilities]

I would like to see someone start a thread about the resource that the Khan Academy is, and the ease at which it explains topics and gives you an ability to answer problems associated to the online tutorial that you just took. I feel it is the next step in higher learning for many people who have trouble with the social disaster many of our publc schools are.

The first thing you do in College, in a technical curriculum at least is to buy very expensive books for every course....lots of books. Chemistry, Physics, Calculus.....lots of money IMA.

I remember while in college and shuffling page by page through the text book, asking myself....Why not just buy the damn book and do it at your own pace ?

This is where the online courses are great...why pay someone to lead you through a text ?

Granted that an online course isn't graded/rewarded in the same way but neither is on the job training for that matter.
Having accrued knowledge, especially if applicable to one's career, never hurts.

It could also be used as a precursor to a course to see if it's your cup of tea without the financial risk.

But regardless, posting it on your resume does display motivation to better one's self and motivation to excel in one's field..

I studied advanced mathematics in engineering school and often times I would think of how boring things were presented.

Blah ....Blah ...Blah...

Second order differential equations....3 Dimensional Matrix analysis.....blah , blah ....blah

It has much to do with the staff, they're fundamentally boring people. Trying to convey a boring topic.
It all tends to be boring....


One of my favorite courses in college was Thermodynamics though.....and why ?
Because the Professor, God Bless Him, used Internal Combustion engines (Diesel Engines)
to teach it !


IT was an awesome course and very motivating because he used real world examples !!

On the contrary , When I learned Trigonometry in high school....had my teacher used real world examples it would have made a lot more sense to me at the time.

For Example:

I am installing a suspension lift as in taller springs on my Jeep.
And never though I'd use that boring Trigonometry from the past.

Lifting the Jeep changes the driveline angles of the driveshaft. This can place stress on the driveshaft leading to vibration and eventual failure of the Universal Joints.

The axle, driveshaft and the springs actually create a right triangle.

I need to adjust my drive shaft pinion angles to maintain it within spec.

Using Trigonometry ....and not to bore everyone you CAN use Trig to solve for these angles....

USING a basic formula we learned.....called SOHCAHTOA where on a Right Triangle.

Sine = Opposite/Hypotenuse
Cosine = Adjacent/Hypotenuse
Tangent = Opposite/Adjacent

Voila....3.5" Lift means a 4 Degree Shim added to the rear axle in order to keep the driveline in spec.

As a Car guy / Motor Head I would have been much more interested in the subject matter ...had my Instructor used a real world example....vs a hypothetical one.

But I feel that online courses are the future of education...especially if you can ask questions or discuss them on internet forums when you are stuck ....

Thanks for posting OP !!!

reply to post by Gentill Abdulla


I actually took the the Frontiers in Astrophysics course online at Yale...

Great course discussing planetary orbits, black holes and such and I now understand what is going on with the Comet Elinin controversy in relation to the gravitational effects of planetary bodies on our Earth's orbit.

It all boils down to Newtonian Physics...the effects of planetary bodies on one another.

Why the earth maintains an orbit around the much larger Sun for example...the earth being a smaller body vs the Sun a larger body and more gravity created due to it's size.

Like a Defensive Tackle vs a halfback....who's going to win has much to do with who possesses more mass.
But since Force = mass x acceleration....the smaller halfback by running faster might be able to overpower the larger lineman....

Physics explains the world around us....

I say to not live in fear and take the course anyway....Physics overall is like math and just formulas which explain the concepts.....you can grasp the concepts without having to go through all of the mathematical aspects.....
You'll still get something out of the course....

The math isn't that difficult...it's basic fractions and solving for x is basically all that it requires.....


Go For It !!

Expand your mind.....and most of all.....

Deny Ignorance !!