Science Definition and 989 Threads

I have a 2 year TA offer at UC Irvine for physics (~$18k) where I would focus on Condensed Matter experiment or the chemicals and materials physics program(this program is easier and offers a 10 week summer research program before grad school begins). Degree time is usually 6-7 years. The...

I'm currently 16, doing second-last year of High School. For certain reasons, I'm "in the dark" in regard to where I am with my education :P. It's just like ... when I come here on PF, my breath just gets taken away with the topics and levels of discussion which go on here; makes me kind of...

Hello. I would like to hear of somebody with experience in the area of materials science (theoretical/computational or experimental) the answer to the following question: What kind of Physics knowledge one must have to work in this area. I mean, how much of the basic Physics stuff you must know...

Hi, I am working on an Egg Drop Contraption as a Physical Science project. I need some help on a 1 page report I need to make. First, let me explain how my project will work so you can know how to answer my questions. I will have a box a bit bigger than the egg itself. The walls, floor, and...

Howdy y'all, I posted a ways back about an interest in science policy, concerning internships. Now I'm more or less asking about possible classes to take. I am in the process of a political science minor and I need a few classes to take and I'd prefer them to be useful or interesting. If...

Hello good people, new fish here. A little context for you: I am a bit of an older student, I am still working on my Associate thanks to my military career slowing down my education with training and overseas duty. I am currently on tract to get my education in Political Science, specifically...

I am majoring in Computer Science and have wondered, is computer science a science? as in the physical and natural sciences or is more appropriate to call it engineering? If not is it proper to call someone that has a career in Computer Science a Scientist? I am dealing with the terms and...

Answer one and then ask your own, be creative! :) Would you rather... Have lunch with Issac Newton or Albert Einstein

Hi, I am a high school senior and I am really having a hard time deciding what I should major in. I absolutely love Physics and Computer Science, but I am worried about majoring in Physics, because many people tell me that it is only worth getting if you attend one of the big ivy league schools...

So, I love physics and math. I have my first Science fair coming up, and I've dreamed about this day since I was five. Putting my knowledge into work that my peers can judge, and maybe spark interest in Physics for someone else. What project could I do that is Quantum Physics or really any...

Does anyone here consider ecology a hard science?

I want to work in ecology and I think it has potential to be a harder science. I like hard sciences and I think sometimes ecology has the image of being a soft science. Does anyone know of the progress being made in ecology? Give me some advice perhaps? Thanks.

In an environmental studies class we were asked what the difference between science and philosophy is. I replied "science is testable and philosophy is not". First of all do others agree with my answer, and does anyone else have something they believe is distinguishing feature? I guess for...

A lot of jobs that I see where you do actual interesting science seem to require having a PhD. Are there reasonable possibilities for doing that with having "only" a Master's in physics? I know that I could increase my employability if I got a PhD, but I'm not looking at getting one at the...

I'm a high school senior and I'm going to tech school in the Fall. I applied and was admitted as an EE major, but I am also interested in possibly getting a degree in computer science or Physics instead. I always thought that EE was cool, but I also would be interested in being a computer...

Electrical Science -- LR Time Constant & Voltage Drops 1. An inductor of negligible resistance and an inductance of 0.2 H is connected in series with a 330 Ω resistor to a 12V d.c. supply. Determine: (a) the time constant of the circuit (b) the voltage drop across the inductor after two...

I'm not a physics student and haven't done any physics work since high school. I've since then forgot most of what I knew and although while researching this problem, everything looks familiar. It just doesn't fit together in my head. This isn't a marked piece of the coursework it's just...

So I am attempting to establish a club in my school called "Science and Astronomy Club". I am supposed to write and present a proposal to our Director of the student affairs officer. I am almost done with it. It contained the following pointers: General Summary(overview), Posts(positions)...

I am sixteen years old and am a junior in High School. College has been a huge pressure in my life and I don't know what to study for college. I am constantly told to go with my passion, take a career test or you don't need to know now. I am always one for decisive decisions but I can not...

I have been wondering lately, is the field of Data Science/Big Data used in the field of Aerodynamics? I know that Data Science has found great uses in areas like bioinformatics, finance, social media and sports. I am asking because the two fields I have grown interest in them. If you work in...

I'm writing a sci-fi story and I'd like to make it, at the very least, scientifically plausible (in the way that alcubirre warp drives are possible assuming we could get our hands on something with negative mass which, as far as we know, doesn't exist). The basic assumption for these questions...

Didn't know what forum to post this in..There are some brilliant people on this forum, just wanted to know your thoughts on the P vs NP problem in Computer Science? Do you think it will ever be solved? I think P != NP. That being said, I do believe it could be solved but not with normal...

What do you think about computer science? Do you think outsourcing could be a reason not to pursue this career? Online education is perhaps making it too accessible? Thanks.

Hi, I'm new to this forum. I came here because I was told by a friend that the forums are great for getting help on classwork/homework. Aside from that, I came here to learn more about science. I always thought that science was about experiments and wearing white lab coats and growing long...

What makes lodestones such good magnets? And what makes synthetic magnets "good"? Do magnets have subatomic particles arranged differently?

Physics/Maths/CompSci student --> career in environmental science? Hi there I am 29 years old and after completing a tertiary foundation certificate to gain University entrance, I am about to embark on a 4.5 year long conjoint degree as follows: BSc component: majoring in Physics BA...

Hey all, I'm just kicking back next to a lake with a line in the water- solar powered internet rocks. Tipping back a few beers towards the sunset, tipsy-haspy waiting for a strike... and wondered what peoples' favorite words of science might be? Parallax for me, that's a cool word. Solid...

Help science project due tomorrow -- Figure Skater Jump Hello, I need help on my physics project that is dues tomorrow. The project is about the energy conservation of a figure skater doing a waltz jump. There are four stages that I explain her kinetic, potential and total energy. For stage...

What would be the foreseeable impacts on science if it were possible to solve the Schrodinger or even Dirac equations analytically (and exactly) for every case?

I recently graduated with a bachelor's degree in physics and, like many other people, am finding that without going to gradschool I'm not going to find a good job. I'm not really interested in the long academic path of a PhD, I would much rather get a master's and go into industry. At first I...

Hi Everyone, I work for a large tech company full of Physicists, Electrical Engineers, etc. (full disclosure - I'm not an engineer). I think my son is demonstrating a potential future interest in Physics or Engineering based the types of things he plays with, the way he plays, and where...

So currently I'm in first year university about to begin my second semester. I know for certain I'm going to be majoring in physics (with possibly the potential to go to graduate school in condensed matter). However, there is also the possibility that I may just want to go straight into...

Hello, first post. I am trying to understand what a meson is. I have googled this and looked at both the wiki page and several intro physics presentations, but the concept is eluding me. Could someone please explain what a meson is? Thanks, sciencenoob

I am trying to see whether science supports the idea of free-will. I don’t mean the illusion of unpredictability that arises from not understanding all the variables. I mean the type of free-will where you can say ‘I want X to be at position Y at the time Z. I am wondering whether any field of...

There's been some buzz about wireless energy transfer for quite some time now, but it seems really far fetched to me that we will get any significant power usage out of wireless energy transfer. What do you guys think? Does this form of energy have any significant potential at all, or is it just...

computer science vs mechatronics engineering , what to choose ?

Hey guys. I'm a senior in high school and I was recently accepted into Carnegie Mellon's computer science program for undergrad early decision (so that's where I'll attend). I'm pretty confident I'll stick with computer science, but I'm also interested in math and physics. I have a few...

First of all I am a scientist, or a chemist to be more precise. I am changing career to become a chemistry teacher and my course requires me to write an essay on the nature of science and teaching science etc.. I'm having a hard time understanding these 3 philosophers view on what science is...

Check out this image from the wikipedia article on "science": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Scientific_Universe.png I'm looking for some recommendations. I'm interested in checking out one (or possibly two) introductory textbooks on each of the subjects in the "hierarchy of science"...

In my country, entrance exams for colleges include topics in physics, chemistry and math. For someone who takes computer science as his branch, why is the student being tested in physics and chemistry? Being knowledgeable in physics and chemistry is useless if someone takes computer science...

This is from last week (I was on vacation and then I worked like a dog to make up for the vacation): Nature news article on the subject: http://www.nature.com/news/nasa-funding-shuffle-alarms-planetary-scientists-1.14304 Eric Berger on the subject...

I am a computer science major and we are required to take two semesters of physics. First semester is based on mechanics and the second semester is focused on electricity and magnetism. I was wondering how these topics are used in computer science and in what specific area? I have tried looking...

After taking a couple classes on programming (I know, CS isn't just programming) and an upper division intro to combinatorics, I'd like to get more into the area of discrete mathematics. I hope to pursue a PhD at some point, but I'm not sure how strong of a school I can get into since currently...

Ok question, it seems to me that now a days people are not interested in science. In my high school just hate science and math and I don't understand why, so my question is why are people hating on math and science :(?

So I have been doing research and if antimatter atoms can exist, does that mean every atom now a days has an antimatter counterpart? I know we have discovered anti-hydrogen but anyways I'm trailing off. Could you theoretically create anti-molecules? Obviously realistically at this time...

I have been in state of confusion in choosing one out of these. Since I am more interested in learning the basic phenomenons and understanding why and how nature works I get distracted from the engineering course in electronics which I am currently into. Early as high-school students I loved...

Hi! I know that material science lies at the interface of physics and chemistry and that any material scientist must have knowledge of chemistry, quantim mechanics, solid state physics,... The problem I face is that I am quite keen on entering material science with a mechanical engineering...

Well, all know japaneses are smart e have a advanced technological cultura, but, rarely I see the name of someone japanese associate to some scientifc advance. And so, how the japaneses inside in history of science?

Lately I'm interested in questions like this: - Given a set of commands, what all computation problems can be done? For e.g.: - SQL has a fixed set of instructions like select, from, where etc. You can only do a limited amount of things with this language. Since there are no for loops and...

Hello all, I am a new member here, but I have come upon Physics forums many times before. So, I have a question: Is it possible for me to gain a Bachelors in computer science and then move on to a Masters in an engineering field? I am presently a CS major, which I love, but I don't know if I...