Exploring Astrophysics: A Teen's Journey to Understanding the Universe

[tActhImo]

Hello I am thimo and I am 16 years old. I am really interested in astrophysics and plan to get a masters degree in physics. I am currently still in High School. I have been watching some science videos on youtube and been formulating my own summaries of the theories discussed in these videos. And so I decided to join this forum.
I am planning on making some physics videos on youtube.

Have a great day!

 

[phinds]

Hello I am thimo and I am 16 years old. I am really interested in astrophysics and plan to get a masters degree in physics. I am currently still in High School. I have been watching some science videos on youtube and been formulating my own summaries of the theories discussed in these videos. And so I decided to join this forum.
I am planning on making some physics videos on youtube.

Have a great day!

Hey, thimo, welcome to the forum.

Keep in mind that most of the science videos you see (even ones with very high, non-amature production values) usually get some amount of the science wrong and sometimes a LOT of the science wrong.

 

[tActhImo]

Hey, thimo, welcome to the forum.

Keep in mind that most of the science videos you see (even ones with very high, non-amature production values) usually get some amount of the science wrong and sometimes a LOT of the science wrong.

I mostly watched PBS Space-Time. And I guess I now understand certain things the wrong way, I have tried to let people correct me but it was deleted because there were too many serious errors in my summary.
Any advice as to how I could better learn to understand certain subjects?

 

[phinds]

I mostly watched PBS Space-Time. And I guess I now understand certain things the wrong way, I have tried to let people correct me but it was deleted because there were too many serious errors in my summary.
Any advice as to how I could better learn to understand certain subjects?

Well, what I did was read a bunch of books, knowing that many of them are just as bad as the science videos, and pay a lot of attention to what gets said on this forum. I love watching those TV pop-science shows because of all the pretty pictures and neat graphics but I don't make the mistake a believing much of what they say.

 

[tActhImo]

Well, what I did was read a bunch of books, knowing that many of them are just as bad as the science videos, and pay a lot of attention to what gets said on this forum. I love watching those TV pop-science shows because of all the pretty pictures and neat graphics but I don't make the mistake a believing much of what they say.

I am currently reading Welcome to the universe written by Neil deGrasse Tyson and 2 other scientists. I really want to better understand the universe and how everything works, but it seems the only way to accomplish this is to go through a whole college book. I thought the videos could help me understand in a more simplistic manner. I mean understand some subjects without using difficult equations. But I guess this is just not possible.

 

[phinds]

I am currently reading Welcome to the universe written by Neil deGrasse Tyson and 2 other scientists. I really want to better understand the universe and how everything works, but it seems the only way to accomplish this is to go through a whole college book. I thought the videos could help me understand in a more simplistic manner. I mean understand some subjects without using difficult equations. But I guess this is just not possible.

Well, it IS possible. I haven't done diff-eq for about 50 years. I'll be damned. Thinking back on it, it's been EXACTLY 50 years. Anyway, you can get a lot by watching the crap videos and reading pop-sci books but unless you skip the videos and get good recommendations on the books (and there are a lot of threads on this forum that give such) you'll have to unlearn a lot of what you "learn".

I also recommend spending time reading threads on this forum. Use the forum search for topics of interest.

EDIT: Oh. You said "difficult" equations. I just saw that as "differential equations" because that IS one of the first things you'll need to learn beyond high school if you really want to dig into the math of physics. It would be my next step if I wanted to attack this stuff seriously.

EDIT again: Also, I watched a LOT of pop-science course videos from The Teaching Company ("The Great Courses"). They are WAY better than pop-science videos on TV and have serious scientists such as Sean Carrol, Alex Filippenko, Neil DeGrasse Tyson and other decent popularizers. The bad news is they are expensive but you can cut the cost WAY back by reselling them immediately after watching them. Also, buy them used if possible.

 

[phinds]

@tActhImo you might also find it informative to read the 1-page summary point to in my signature

 

[tActhImo]

@tActhImo you might also find it informative to read the 1-page summary point to in my signature

Oh well now I know I learned atleast one thing that is true. I watched a videa about the expansion of the universe and I concluded exactly what is described in your summary.