Physics Confusion

[Follower12]

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Hey everyone,

I was wondering if there were any helpful physics books I could buy that could help me with my general non-calc physics class. For some reason i can not for the life of me understand these problems. I feel like i learned the concepts (apparently not) but i still have trouble using the formulas to find the answer.

There are just so many different ways a topic could be asked in a problem and each way requires a different method of approaching it. I think my problem is that I try to memorize how to do certain problems. The problems make sense when I compare my answers in the solutions manual but I cant bring myself to think in the way I need.

Topics we are learning now are projectile motion/kinematics and newtons laws.

Organic chem as a second language is working wonders, so I am hoping to find something similar for physics. I am using the khan academy website and its helpful but im looking for more.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Isoprop]

There is a second language book for physics, but I never used it personally so I can't comment on it.

I used the NOVA MCAT Physics book. It has helpful explanations to physics concepts that helped me understand things intuitively, even for much more abstract concepts like electromagnetism. It won't be comprehensive and does not go into the same detail as your physics class, but it was of great help to me.

Otherwise, may I recommend a physics tutor?

 

[Celerity]

Hey everyone,

I was wondering if there were any helpful physics books I could buy that could help me with my general non-calc physics class. For some reason i can not for the life of me understand these problems. I feel like i learned the concepts (apparently not) but i still have trouble using the formulas to find the answer.

There are just so many different ways a topic could be asked in a problem and each way requires a different method of approaching it. I think my problem is that I try to memorize how to do certain problems. The problems make sense when I compare my answers in the solutions manual but I cant bring myself to think in the way I need.

Topics we are learning now are projectile motion/kinematics and newtons laws.

Organic chem as a second language is working wonders, so I am hoping to find something similar for physics. I am using the khan academy website and its helpful but im looking for more.

Thanks for your help!

Get the physics MCAT prep by Examkrackers and 1001 questions by them too.
Also, listen to the Examkrackers Audio Osmosis. They will give you an excellent overview of what is going on without focusing too much on detail.

You can kill most physics problems like this:

Read the question through once and get the spirit of the question.
Read the question again, and write down all the given variables and values
Look for a formula that has the most variables given to you.
Plug all givens into the formula.
Solve.
Ask yourself if the answer makes logical sense.
Also, draw a picture.

Good Luck

 

[Espadaleader]

Make sure you buy the physics solutions manual for your textbook. No one "understands" physics at first because doing so means forgetting everything you "think" you know about physics. Everyone "knows" about "momentum" and "force" etc. but this previous knowledge usually conflicts with what is really happening and is not useful. Go to office hours too.

 

[jokerman55]

Hey everyone,

I was wondering if there were any helpful physics books I could buy that could help me with my general non-calc physics class. For some reason i can not for the life of me understand these problems. I feel like i learned the concepts (apparently not) but i still have trouble using the formulas to find the answer.

There are just so many different ways a topic could be asked in a problem and each way requires a different method of approaching it. I think my problem is that I try to memorize how to do certain problems. The problems make sense when I compare my answers in the solutions manual but I cant bring myself to think in the way I need.

Topics we are learning now are projectile motion/kinematics and newtons laws.

Organic chem as a second language is working wonders, so I am hoping to find something similar for physics. I am using the khan academy website and its helpful but im looking for more.

Thanks for your help!

Go through some of the video lectures on MIT OCW Classical Physics as well. It helped me reinforce my understanding and provided new ways to look on concepts.

 

[Amba]

Go through some of the video lectures on MIT OCW Classical Physics as well. It helped me reinforce my understanding and provided new ways to look on concepts.

I used that last semester and Khan academy a bit this semester. I'd recommend both.

 

[azerkail]

I used that last semester and Khan academy a bit this semester. I'd recommend both.

i wholeheartedly support khan academy for algebra based physics. i also would supplement with 'physics for dummies'. helped a lot for rotational physics.

 

[brahms11]

Go to office hours too.

Very good advice. I never did study sessions or office hours for my science classes until I got to physics. These problems require a different thought process, which you will likely learn better from hearing others work through problems than reading a book--even a solutions manual.

 

[kduck]

There's a book called Basic Physics: A Self-Teaching Guide by Karl F. Kuhn. It would have been helpful to me if I had found it earlier, but by the time I got it I had mastered some of my initial troubles. However, it seems to have a good layout of basic concepts, if that's what you need.

 

[coyotelime]

There is a second language book for physics, but I never used it personally so I can't comment on it.

I used the NOVA MCAT Physics book. It has helpful explanations to physics concepts that helped me understand things intuitively, even for much more abstract concepts like electromagnetism. It won't be comprehensive and does not go into the same detail as your physics class, but it was of great help to me.

Otherwise, may I recommend a physics tutor?

+1, Nova Physics helped me do fairly well on PS on the MCAT, and imho physics for the MCAT is much more conceptual than your average college physics course. I happened to have a crazy prof for physics A that gave MC only exams(all conceptual, but that's beside the point.

 

[Pose]

Physics is hard. It seems easy when you read the chapter, but the problems given are much more difficult to grasp. It's frustrating. But I've been having success with:

-working, and then re-working (the next day, or later same eve) all of the odd problems in my text. I don't get most of them the first time.
-khanacademy.org.
-youtubing whatever I'm having trouble with, to get more methods of solving particular problems.
-asking the questions I can't solve on yahoo answers, because the physics gurus there respond usually within an hour. I specifically ask for each step used to be explained.
-type in the exact question I can't understand into Google, because 99% of the time it has been asked before. This usually links me to yahoo answers again...because I wasn't the first to ask.

We just finished Newton's laws, and gravitational force/frictional force/tension. Friction blows. My professor also happens to ask for/use one variable for HW or quizzes, but on our exam uses something else...like acceleration. Bummer.

 

[The_Sunny_Doc]

I know this is an old thread, but I just wanted to rec the Cutnell and Johnson Physics textbooks for noncalc based physics. They helped me way more than the assigned textbooks did for our classes.

A firm basis in trig (reviewing all those important concepts - solving triangles, trig functions, degrees/radians) really helped me to master physics I. Also, knowing how to draw the pictures for the problems is essential. Hope you ended up getting the hang of things!