physics?? (1 Viewer)

[jazzaholic]

Hi,
I have no idea whether to do physics nxt yr cause i find all the motors n generators crap boring as hell but all the astronomy stuff increadably intersting. Could sum1 in yr 12 tell me what the courses are about and how boring it is? is it also possible to do 4 unit maths without the physics course cause ppl keep saying if u do 4 unit u should do physics. anyhoo
Jazz

 

[insert-username]

You cover quite a bit of Physics-related stuff in 3 unit Maths, like Simple Harmonic Motion. However, you don't *need* to do Physics to do 4 unit - it's just a common combination. Also, the measure of how "boring" a subject happens to be is purely subjective - the opinion differes from student to student. Your best bet is going to your Physics teacher and asking what the course covers and having a quick look over it. It's much better deciding for yourself than basing your decision off what others tell you.


I_F

 

[klaw]

Hi,
I have no idea whether to do physics nxt yr cause i find all the motors n generators crap boring as hell but all the astronomy stuff increadably intersting. Could sum1 in yr 12 tell me what the courses are about and how boring it is? is it also possible to do 4 unit maths without the physics course cause ppl keep saying if u do 4 unit u should do physics. anyhoo
Jazz

stuff like projectile motion are also in 3U maths... and you will be more familiar with them... but the projectile motion Qs in phys are so much easier and they also use slightly different formulae (they take the trig out of the projectile motion stuff). Doing high level maths would only give you a negligible advantage.

 

[Raginsheep]

There's no Simple Harmonics in the physics course.

In year 12, you cover Space, which is just basically motion and special relativity, Motors and Generators which is stuff on electricity and the motor effect, Ideas to Implementation, which cover some scientific developments that occured in the late 19th to early 20th century such as cathode ray tudes, semi-conductors and also superconductivity.

There's also the 4th topics which can be either qunta to quarks (quantum theory), astrophysics (space), med physics and a couple of others.

How boring you find the course depends on your interests. I find qunatum theory quite interesting however, motors and gen not so interesting. Try getting your hands on a HSC phy text book and have a skim through it.

As for whether you do 4u maths, if u want to do it and you feel that you are capable, go ahead. You don't need the physics course at all and there's almost no benifit in doing physics just because it might help 4u.

Motion topics (simple harmoic, projectile, circular and resisted) in HSC maths, 3u and 4u, almost always require you to derive the equations from the intial given conditions meaing that some understanding of the topic is required. Physics is more about theory and memorising "impacts on society". Everything is done by just plugging numbers into the formulas on the back of the test paper as long as you can figure out which equation is to be used.

 

[insert-username]

There's no Simple Harmonics in the physics course.

I thought you went through it in more detail in the Year 12 course? We did a bit on it for the Prelim... maybe our teacher was just giving us extra stuff.


I_F

 

[Raginsheep]

Nup. Only projectile motion.