Programs Help me decide: physics or chemistry?

[approximatelysphere]

Physics rarely invokes any chemistry at all, except to explain how physics underpins some bit of chemistry.

My teacher likes to say that chemistry is just a subfield of physics haha

 

[Herman Trivilino]

My teacher likes to say that chemistry is just a subfield of physics haha

That's an old one. It's mostly true but not completely true. Chemistry focuses more on the empirical, less on the theoretical.

 

[approximatelysphere]

Guys, if you still care, I think I've pretty much made up my mind.

I really do enjoy learning about maths and physics. At least I know that that is true for now. I won't know anything five or ten years down the line. I enjoy physics now, and that's the only thing that matters.

It is equally likely that I won't enjoy chemistry in the future, perhaps even more likely, since I already don't enjoy it as much as physics now.

Hence, I won't deny myself physics because it will be difficult, because I will struggle. I won't worry about not being good enough. That's a problem for future me.

I like physics and I'm gonna do physics. Wish me luck!

 

[Mayhem]

Guys, if you still care, I think I've pretty much made up my mind.

I really do enjoy learning about maths and physics. At least I know that that is true for now. I won't know anything five or ten years down the line. I enjoy physics now, and that's the only thing that matters.

It is equally likely that I won't enjoy chemistry in the future, perhaps even more likely, since I already don't enjoy it as much as physics now.

Hence, I won't deny myself physics because it will be difficult, because I will struggle. I won't worry about not being good enough. That's a problem for future me.

I like physics and I'm gonna do physics. Wish me luck!

Chemistry is already bad enough when you actually want to do chemistry.

Physics is the better choice for you.

 

[CrysPhys]

Guys, if you still care, I think I've pretty much made up my mind.

I really do enjoy learning about maths and physics. At least I know that that is true for now. I won't know anything five or ten years down the line. I enjoy physics now, and that's the only thing that matters.

It is equally likely that I won't enjoy chemistry in the future, perhaps even more likely, since I already don't enjoy it as much as physics now.

Hence, I won't deny myself physics because it will be difficult, because I will struggle. I won't worry about not being good enough. That's a problem for future me.

I like physics and I'm gonna do physics. Wish me luck!

That's a well-balanced perspective. Good luck on your endeavors, present and future.

 

[gwnorth]

Congratulations on coming to a decision OP and best of luck for your studies.

My advice is that it's never too early to get involved in research and I would encourage you to look into what opportunities may exist early on. Make sure you apply for summer research opportunities like NSERC USRA, and the IPP Summer Fellowship, or at the various national labs like TRIUMF and SNOLAB. You can also approach professors directly to see if they would allow you to volunteer in their labs. I would also look to see if there are any student societies you could join. Above all else though, don't forget to have fun.

 

[Anachronist]

I've been there (I'm retired now). I would choose physics. Chemistry is actually physics, when you get right down to it.

With a physics degree, you can actually get employment in engineering, as I did. A coworker who actually got his PhD in physics decided he wanted to go into medicine, and now he's an MD researcher, using his physics background to study epilepsy at the Mayo Clinic.

Chemistry may narrow your choices. If you're really ambitious, you can major in physics with a minor in chemistry.

There are branches of physics that overlap with chemistry, like chemical physics and solid state physics. Even electronics.

Study your passion. If you're good at math anyway, college math won't be a problem. Just be sure you get your math classes before the physics classes that need the math. I was taking physics classes that involved math that I hadn't yet had in my math classes, and to this day I consider that a grave mistake and I came out worse than I should have, but that's how the classes were arranged at that university.

 

[symbolipoint]

Chemistry may narrow your choices. If you're really ambitious, you can major in physics with a minor in chemistry.

There are branches of physics that overlap with chemistry, like chemical physics and solid state physics. Even electronics.

Sometimes a person may earn a degree in one science with a minor concentration in another science field; when finding actual employment, person may fill a position as "scientist". I am unsure how common this is.

 

[Homelilly]

Undergraduate coursework is mostly theory, so at the point where you are now, my advice is simply to do as well as you can in your coursework. When you get to the point where you can start to participate in your professors' research, look for opportunities among the theorists.

My experience is in the US, where there are not (with maybe a few exceptions) separate undergraduate tracks for theorists and experimentalists.



This was the second term of calculus-based freshman physics, using Halliday & Resnick's Fundamentals of Physics as the text. Multivariable calculus was not a prerequisite, although I was in fact taking it at the same time.

We learned the integral versions of Maxwell's Equations, which can be explained pictorially / graphically. We applied them in very symmetric geometries where the multivariable integrals reduce to simple multiplications.

In the mid 2000s, when I taught that material myself, I called those integrals "Geico integrals": "So easy a caveman could do them."

Later, in our intermediate-level E&M course using a text similar to Griffiths' Introduction to Electrodynamics, we got the full treatment using both the differential and integral versions of Maxwell's equations, and applied them in situations where we actually had to use our multivariable-calculus techniques.

Would you suggest Griffiths after HRK to prepare for USAPhO? Or is it better to take Purcell/Morin? Thanks!

 

[jtbell]

I have no experience with the PhO. It came along (in the US) years after I finished high school, and I've only taught at the college level. I've taught from Griffiths but never from Purcell/Morin.

At the college level, both Purcell/Morin and Griffiths are used for intermediate E&M (at different schools). There's been a fair amount of discussion of them in our textbooks forum. Go there, enter "purcell morin" or "purcell morin griffiths" in the search box, restrict the search to "This forum" and see what turns up. You mignt not find anything specifically related to the PhO, but you might be able to gain a general impression of the differences between the two books.

 

[Muu9]

Would you suggest Griffiths after HRK to prepare for USAPhO? Or is it better to take Purcell/Morin? Thanks!

HRK and Morin's blue book are both relevant; Griffiths is too advanced. Purcell has some good problems, but many require multivariable calculus while the USAPhO does not.
After HRK I would suggest going through Kevin Zhou's handouts; how does your son do on this placement test: https://knzhou.github.io/handouts/Prelim.pdf ?

 

[Homelilly]

I have no experience with the PhO. It came along (in the US) years after I finished high school, and I've only taught at the college level. I've taught from Griffiths but never from Purcell/Morin.

At the college level, both Purcell/Morin and Griffiths are used for intermediate E&M (at different schools). There's been a fair amount of discussion of them in our textbooks forum. Go there, enter "purcell morin" or "purcell morin griffiths" in the search box, restrict the search to "This forum" and see what turns up. You mignt not find anything specifically related to the PhO, but you might be able to gain a general impression of the differences between the two books.

Thanks! Will do that!

 

[Homelilly]

HRK and Morin's blue book are both relevant; Griffiths is too advanced. Purcell has some good problems, but many require multivariable calculus while the USAPhO does not.
After HRK I would suggest going through Kevin Zhou's handouts; how does your son do on this placement test: https://knzhou.github.io/handouts/Prelim.pdf ?

Thanks for the response! He is doing volume 2 of HRK (at this moment); finished the blue Morin book. He did handouts once before the F=ma, but he says he is sure of 10 done; he solved about 70% of the Kevin Zhou test. We will see the results soon. He will have a USAPhO prep class next year; I am thinking of adding lab at the university, because he is signed for AP CHem, and he really LOVES olympiad problems, so he does not want to take an upper class of physics at the university, but wants to prepare for the Olympiad. So my big issue is to give him a lot of math and physics olympiad (what he wants) instead of regular school math and physics curriculum (up), and since we did not study in the US and homeschooling, I do not want to regret later that he is at a disadvantage. Thanks a lot for the advice and help!

 

[Muu9]

Thanks for the response! He is doing volume 2 of HRK (at this moment); finished the blue Morin book. He did handouts once before the F=ma, but he says he is sure of 10 done; he solved about 70% of the Kevin Zhou test. We will see the results soon. He will have a USAPhO prep class next year; I am thinking of adding lab at the university, because he is signed for AP CHem, and he really LOVES olympiad problems, so he does not want to take an upper class of physics at the university, but wants to prepare for the Olympiad. So my big issue is to give him a lot of math and physics olympiad (what he wants) instead of regular school math and physics curriculum (up), and since we did not study in the US and homeschooling, I do not want to regret later that he is at a disadvantage. Thanks a lot for the advice and help!

Then you can find the handouts and the answers to the preliminary questions here: https://knzhou.github.io/

These two courses have lecture which are roughly at the level of HRK: https://oyc.yale.edu/physics (one per volume)