Exploring the Exciting World of Physics: A Journey of Learning and Discovery

[DaveP]

Hi all,

My name is David. I've often found useful insight and answers to problems in this forum so decided to join!
I studied electronics engineering so have a rudimentary understanding of EM, Fourier analysis and semiconductor physics, although I mostly work in embedded software development nowadays.
My objective is to keep learning and maybe find more like minded people, since everyone I tell 'my hobby is physics' look at me in a strange way.

I have some 10 months of reading, thinking and problem solving using mostly K&K and Taylor and I'm just about to dive into the exciting stuff at the end ;-).

Still some doubts along the way specially in rigid body motion and non-inertial frames (aaaand I literally just skimmed through Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics) but hopefully those will clear up with more experience.

The ultimate goal is a firm grasp of both GR and QM, but lately I've come to enjoy the ride so in no rush to get there. I'm keen to explore the forum in more detail and perhaps meet some of the folk!

 

[phinds]

Welcome to the forum Dave. I know EXACTLY what you mean about getting strange looks when you tell people that your hobby is physics. This is a great place to engage with like minded folk. A lot of the people here REALLY know what they are talking about (I'm not one of them but I'm working on it).

Just out of curiosity, when you say "doubts", do you mean that word the way it is used in American English or the way it is used by Indian and Pakistani folks (a substitute for the word "question", not the American English "doubt") ? I ask because I have a mild interest in the oddities of translation and the effect of different language on English. For example of the kind of thing I mean, many people in America (a modest percentage but a lot around the Pennsylvania area) use the word "let" where the rest of us would use "leave". That is, if asked, for example, "do you want me to bring the dog in?" they might respond "no, let him out". Most of us would find that odd since to us it would mean PUT him out but he is already out so we would expect the answer to be "leave him out" not "let him out". This usage is because of an oddity of translation from German/Dutch (the people in that area are often "Pennsylvania Dutch"). Likewise, "doubt" is one of those words that get translated differently depending on the culture where the English is learned. People who learned English in India use it where native English speakers would use the word "question".

Actually, that long-winded question could more concisely be asked as "Are you a native speaker of Portuguese who has a perfect command of English or are you a native English speaker who happens to be in Portugal at the moment", but I thought I'd give the question background.

Paul

P.S. by the way, I also studied EE and spent a couple of my early years doing embedded systems (WAY more primitive than what you find today)

 

[DaveP]

Hi Paul,

I'm Portuguese but my mother was English so I was taught both languages. For the past 6 years I've lived and worked in England and that's what really took it to the next level.
That's an amusing story. It reminds me when I first took my cat to the vet in England and they asked what vaccines she had. I replied: 'well she's been vaccinated against rabbis'...

 

[DaveP]

...and I used doubts as in questions (unsolved problems, other questions raised from studying the material, etc.).

 

[phinds]

Hi Paul,

I'm Portuguese but my mother was English so I was taught both languages. For the past 6 years I've lived and worked in England and that's what really took it to the next level.
That's an amusing story. It reminds me when I first took my cat to the vet in England and they asked what vaccines she had. I replied: 'well she's been vaccinated against rabbis'...

That's hilarious. Did the vet happen to be Jewish?

 

[DaveP]

I don't know. In the good English way she didn't make any remarks. She just paused for a fraction of a second trying to figure out what the heck I meant and then just went: 'ah yes...rabies' and everything carried on business as usual.