I'm kind of angry: In dire need of guidance for self-teaching basic physics

[Raizy]

I am enrolled in ILC independent study to earn a Gr. 11 Physics credit. I took gr. 10 science as a prerequisite but it turns out I'm stuck right now on Chemistry and the Physics section as I forgot everything from grade 9. This angers me because ILC takes forever (there is a lot of stuff I need to learn that I don't really need). I don't even really need these credits as I'm already in a college preparing for my actual college program (Academic Upgrading). The college program's (Electromechanical Eng. Technology) only requires college math and english as a prerequisite - no mentioning of physics at all. It still doesn't make sense the program does not require any physics prerequisites regardless if it's only a "technology" course. To be safe, I have made it another objective to try and learn as much basic physics as I can before Fall terms starts.

I have three very important questions:

1. Do I need some chemistry for understanding physics? I am not talking about dealing with the tiniest behavior of particles, but rather real-world application like, "the amount of *blah blah blah* to power a robotic arm" or "if a car that weights x is traveling at y ... etc. etc." basic type of stuff like that.

2. What kind of books should I be looking for to learn basic physics?

3. Should I drop out of the ILC course and just buy a good quality textbook for basic physics? I've already spent 40 bucks on one course, and since I'll need gr. 9 I'll have to spend another 40, and then plus another 40 for the gr. 11 Physics course materials. This totals to 120 bucks already -- a price of a decent textbook. And precious time is wasted. Every day counts.

I feel like crap :( I'm so confused on what to do. I really don't want to wait an extra 4 months if I end up not finishing my prerequisites on time.

 

[mgb_phys]

1. Do I need some chemistry for understanding physics? I am not talking about dealing with the tiniest behavior of particles, but rather real-world application like, "the amount of *blah blah blah* to power a robotic arm" or "if a car that weights x is traveling at y ... etc. etc." basic type of stuff like that.

I would have though the other way around. It depends on if you consider atoms and electrons and so on as chemistry or physics.
If you just mean do I have to remember stuff like the atomic number of Sodium or which nitrates are insoluble to be a physicist = no.
However if you mean I don't want to learn all that stuff about atoms/electrons etc because it isn't directly relevant to solving mechanics problems = are you sure physics is the right subject?

2. What kind of books should I be looking for to learn basic physics?

Do a search here - the most common ugrad intro textbook in the US seems to be Halliday+Resnick in it's many forms. Get a couple of editions old one cheap - intro physics hasn't changed much in the last 5years even if they do keep bringing out new editions.

3. Should I drop out of the ILC course and just buy a good quality textbook for basic physics? I've already spent 40 bucks on one course, and since I'll need gr. 9 I'll have to spend another 40, and then plus another 40 for the gr. 11 Physics course materials. This totals to 120 bucks already -- a price of a decent textbook. And precious time is wasted. Every day counts.

That depends on you, how you learn, the purpose of the course and it's content.