What Are the Most Intriguing Concepts in Physics for Beginners?

[3dsmax]

Okay i am not a physics master. I'm in honors high school physics with a C. But physics is just so interesting. I just wish I was better at it. I'm always making stupid mistakes on tests
Anyways.
I am really interested in learning about the weird things in physics.
Like tachyons, string theory, shrodingers equation, what happens at the speed of light,EDIT: oh yeah can't forget wormholes, black holes, and superdense star material ,quantum tunnelling, relativity, redshifts, time travel (i know its not possible), and well you get the jist of it. I want to know about all the cool things about physics. I was wondering if someone could point me towards a book that would be able to explain it so someone with my knowledge would understand it. I have already read about half of The Physics of Superheros which is a great book, and want to learn more. My teacher says I don't have a high enough grade to go to AP so I have to learn this myself.
I'd rather not have to spend countless hours on the net trying to find stuff (mainly cause my internet usage is limited). So any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

PS: also why do people say light can't be slowed down but it travels slower through certain things?

 

[ranger]

Like tachyons, string theory, shrodingers equation, what happens at the speed of light,EDIT: oh yeah can't forget wormholes, black holes, and superdense star material ,quantum tunnelling, relativity, redshifts, time travel (i know its not possible), and well you get the jist of it.

Yes I agree that physics is interesting. But a lot of those things you listed require high levels of mathematical sophistication and is beyond the ordinary high school student. String theory isn't touched by most physics students until grad school. For now I think you better slow down a little and get well grounded in the basic concepts and mathematics.

PS: also why do people say light can't be slowed down but it travels slower through certain things?

The photons do not slow down. It is the group velocity that changes as light moves between different mediums.

 

[3dsmax]

So any book recommendations?

 

[Smoke/mirrors]

Try these if you can find them:

Mathematics and The Physical World, by Morris Kline.
Gravity, Black Holes and the Universe, by Ian Nicolson
Coming of Age In The Milky Way, by Timothy Ferris
A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking
Einstein's Universe, by Nigel Calder
The Meaniing of Relativity, by A. Einstein
The New Gravitation, by H. Arthur Klein
Gravitation, by Misner, Thorne and Wheeler
Relativity, The Special and the General Theory, by Albert Einstein
Was Einstein Right? by Clifford Will
The Emperors New Mind, by Rioger Penrose
Newton's Gift, by David Berlinski
Aristotle, Galileo and the Tower of Pisa, by Lane Cooper.
Introduction to Modern Physics, by Elmer E. Anderson

HAWKING AND FERRIS ARE A GOOD PLACE TO START.

 

[3dsmax]

Thanks for the list i will be sure to check them out.

 

[JesseM]

If you're interested in black holes and wormholes, I also recommend "Black Holes and Time Warps" by Kip Thorne. And on string theory, you could look at "The Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene.

 

[physicists=fa]

check out the Teaching Company (TTC) courses, theyre videos but great collage teachers just teaching what they know. half the time i don't even listen, but i pick up the interesting things from all subjects between galaxies and atoms.

I download them from TPB.