Why?Probably the most popular question in physics.

[student24]

Why?

Probably the most popular question in physics. So I ask, to physics majors, why did you choose to study one of the most challenging subjects in college? A subject that most people avoid due to its inherent difficulty. Masochism, perhaps?

 

[Danger]

Surprise, surprise! Here's the high-school dropout posting the first response. Just a minor correction to your scenario. Science does not ask why; it only asks how. Why is more in the realm of metaphysics.

 

[student24]

Surprise, surprise! Here's the high-school dropout posting the first response. Just a minor correction to your scenario. Science does not ask why; it only asks how. Why is more in the realm of metaphysics.

hmm, a bit too definitive with the "only," but it's definitely something to ponder on.

 

[Danger]

Sorry; I didn't mean to sound like a martinet. It's just that in scientific terminology, 'why' implies that there's a purpose of some sort. 'How' covers the mechanisms that cause something to be.

 

[student24]

yeah, i see your point. But what i was referring to was that most people usually start off with "why" then move onto "how." maybe we can agree on simply "curiosity" as being the ultimate force behind science.

 

[Integral]

I set my sights high. If I could not meet the demands of a Physics degree (I did) then I could always drop my goals to an Engineering degree. Had I originally set my goal for an engineering field I would always have wondered if I could have managed a Physics degree.

 

[colin.mcenroe]

I don't know, interestingly enough I never had much interest in science until I took physics in high school, and lo-and-behold I never had any interest in math until I took calculus in college.

I agree with the student24's reply regarding curiosity- this is something I have always been accused of and have never been satisfied with "just-so." Of course, this applies to many areas of my life, whether political, philosophical, spiritual, scientific, and etc.

As my physics professor put it: "You don't do physics for [insert normal human desire here], you do physics because you can't imagine doing anything else."

 

[verty]

But what i was referring to was that most people usually start off with "why" then move onto "how."

Do people start off with why? I'm not so sure about that. I would think most just learn the syllabus in their respective discipline and don't much venture outside of it until later.

The most important why is 'why am I doing this?' and I don't think that can be or is taught.

 

[dt19]

because it's fun and it makes me happy when it works!

 

[pivoxa15]

Do people start off with why? I'm not so sure about that. I would think most just learn the syllabus in their respective discipline and don't much venture outside of it until later.

Good point. I remember doing an introduction to Chemistry course at uni having not done any science since middle high. I was very excited with the subject content and tried to get into the hows and whys very early but got myself in a tangled mess. So I just tried to stay with the course and most things just came out, one step at a time. This is because the course answers the whys and hows asked by scientists over centuries and have compiled them systematically in as an understandable fashion as possible.

 

[pivoxa15]

Regarding the 'why' and 'how' issue.

One usually answers a 'why' question with 'Because ...'
One ususally answers a 'how' question with 'It works by ... '

I don't know about you but I tend to use 'Because ...' to answer my own scientific queries.

An example
Q: Why does an object on Earth fall to the ground?
Newton: Because there is force acting on the object toward the earth.
Q: Why is there a force acting on the object?
Einstein: Because of the curved nature of space and time
Q: Why is spacetime curved?

 

[leright]

I set my sights high. If I could not meet the demands of a Physics degree (I did) then I could always drop my goals to an Engineering degree. Had I originally set my goal for an engineering field I would always have wondered if I could have managed a Physics degree.

I assume you've never been through an engineering program, since engineering programs are just as challenging as most physics programs. Sure, overall, physics has more theory (but there's tons of theory in an engineering curriculum...especially in controls and communication systems), but don't underestimate the difficulty of design.

 

[eep]

Why physics? If not physics, then what else? :) I kind of think it's silly to do physics just because you know it's challenging.

 

[pivoxa15]

As my physics professor put it: "You don't do physics for [insert normal human desire here], you do physics because you can't imagine doing anything else."

I think a professor in any field would say this, except replace 'physics' by their field of study.

 

[imastud]

i started out in physics my freshman year because i thought solving problems was more fun than writing papers, I'm a senior now and still enjoy just doing physics for the hell of it, i don't really ask the why questions, i just find the problem solving fun and challenging

 

[Virtual R]

when i took physics major i didnt ask myself why? and now i think it is the kind of subject whose frequency match with my frequency (not in terms of c/wavelength) so i believe studying physics is like understanding nature n this curiosity is natural

 

[eep]

yeah, curiosity is a big part of it. I'm aware of my existence in a universe which is governed (or modeled, depending on how you think of it) by mathematical structures. I'm curious as to what these structures are and really enjoy working with them.

 

[Milkweed]

I was a physics major, and have known several others. Many choose physics for the challenge it provides, in the same way that others become Marines, or climb mountains. It's challenging enough to keep one's mind from wandering in class. I needed to do lab work to understand, and physics majors did more lab work than any engineering major at my school. I also liked the idea of covering a broad range of subjects rather than super-specializing. And I knew I could work as an engineer when I was done.

 

[bit188]

I'm very young, and I self-study math and physics. I started out because of curiosity; what is exactly is this all about? Physics was (and is!) wonderful, and once I worked up to calculus, math was just as beautiful to me. And now I'm doing differential equations and going to start into intro physics (again...) with calculus. Working my way up, slowly...

 

[Stephan Hoyer]

i started out in physics my freshman year because i thought solving problems was more fun than writing papers, I'm a senior now and still enjoy just doing physics for the hell of it, i don't really ask the why questions, i just find the problem solving fun and challenging

Exactly. For me it's not even so much that I find solving problems more fun than writing papers, but I find it easier, too.

It's ridiculous to assume that physics is inherently some sort of pinnacle in the hierarchy of disciplines. You can make any subject as difficult as any other, and for different people, different things are easier. I can almost guarantee, for instance, that if I were majoring in a "soft" subject of some sort I would have a lower GPA.

 

[Astronuc]

Why? Probably the most popular question in physics.

Why not? Probably the second most popular question in physics.

Although close behind that is probably - WT*?! Followed by How the He! . . . . ?


When I was very young (about 6 years old), my parents started buying me "How and Why Wonder Books", and I accumulated most of the ones on science. Well, I read them voraciously and that's how I became interested in math and science. When I turned 11, my parents bought me Van Nostrand's Scientific Encylopedia. The rest is history.

http://members.optushome.com.au/intabits/HowAndWhy.htm :!)

 

[pivoxa15]

Why not? Probably the second most popular question in physics.

Although close behind that is probably - WT*?! Followed by How the He! . . . . ?


When I was very young (about 6 years old), my parents started buying me "How and Why Wonder Books", and I accumulated most of the ones on science. Well, I read them voraciously and that's how I became interested in math and science. When I turned 11, my parents bought me Van Nostrand's Scientific Encylopedia. The rest is history.

http://members.optushome.com.au/intabits/HowAndWhy.htm :!)

'Why not?' is more of an Engineer question or applied physics question. Have you seen the movie, The Time Machine? The scientists favourate phrase was 'Why not' and he was a young associate professor of Applied Mechanics and Applied physics. I think 'pure' physicsts are busy enough with 'why?'.

 

[phun]

I think it began because I "could". It's like one day you realize you have a better eye sight than most everyone else and you can see that girl next door changing her clothes more clearly than your friends do. Of course you'd feel special and want to keep doing it (note that doing physics is not as shady as, say peeping through the window).
Now at near the end of my college years, it's more like, I know I'm probably not going to be a great physicist or anything, but I really want to learn more about physics (cause the typical college curriculum just leaves you feeling unbearably incomplete) and experience the feeling of doing physics professionally. If something amazing happens along the way, I might get a job, too.

 

[imastud]

I think it began because I "could". It's like one day you realize you have a better eye sight than most everyone else and you can see that girl next door changing her clothes more clearly than your friends do. Of course you'd feel special and want to keep doing it (note that doing physics is not as shady as, say peeping through the window).

in the spirit of this forum, i think a better example would be that you're superior physics knowledge over your friends gave you the ability to create a telescope for better viewing the girl next door changing her clothes.

 

[jtbell]

If not physics, then what else? :)

Stamp collecting.

 

[FUNKER]

Because physics is BUZZY

 

[tim_lou]

Why physics? If not physics, then what else?

exactly the point! what do you understand if you don't even understand how the world works?

 

[Azael]

There was never any other option in my mind.

 

[arunma]

Woah, old thread.

Anyway, the reason I studied physics is because I'm interested in learning how stuff works. I used to read a lot of physics books as a kid, I just didn't know it. I used to read about the Big Bang, atomic theory, light, and things of that nature long before I ever knew that there was a discipline called "physics" that put it all together. Back in high school my plan was to go to college and, major in biology, get into medical school, and then pull in $$$ like it was nobody's business. But in eleventh grade I took an algebra-based physics class at my local community college, which was intended for biology and other non-physics majors. Before this I really didn't know what physics was all about. But after being exposed to physics and finding that I was good at it, I decided that I'd like to do this for a living.

And besides that, there's also the "what else?" question that others have alluded to. After becoming interested in physics, everything else seemed mundane to me. I didn't want to end up in a cubicle working from 9 to 5 every day to make some guy at the top rich. To me, physics seems like something worthwhile. Sure, the hours are a lot worse (more like 5 to 9). But the work of physicists contributes to our understanding of the universe, and it's an interesting challenge. So that's why I majored in physics.

 

[pivoxa15]

Woah, old thread.

Anyway, the reason I studied physics is because I'm interested in learning how stuff works. I used to read a lot of physics books as a kid, I just didn't know it. I used to read about the Big Bang, atomic theory, light, and things of that nature long before I ever knew that there was a discipline called "physics" that put it all together. Back in high school my plan was to go to college and, major in biology, get into medical school, and then pull in $$$ like it was nobody's business. But in eleventh grade I took an algebra-based physics class at my local community college, which was intended for biology and other non-physics majors. Before this I really didn't know what physics was all about. But after being exposed to physics and finding that I was good at it, I decided that I'd like to do this for a living.

And besides that, there's also the "what else?" question that others have alluded to. After becoming interested in physics, everything else seemed mundane to me. I didn't want to end up in a cubicle working from 9 to 5 every day to make some guy at the top rich. To me, physics seems like something worthwhile. Sure, the hours are a lot worse (more like 5 to 9). But the work of physicists contributes to our understanding of the universe, and it's an interesting challenge. So that's why I majored in physics.

Sounds like myself. Although I might go down the maths paths because I am too much of a purist but will do physics on the side as well, probably for the rest of my life.