by TYSON SACCO
In light of course registrations coming up for next year, The Mainsheet presents you the top 10 reasons why physics is the best science:
- The Equations
There are so many equations that your teacher can give you an equation sheet for a test, but you still can’t figure out how to solve the problem! Isn’t that thought-provoking and fun?! (cα ⋅ p̂ + Bmc²) ψ = iħ δψ/δt) … let’s goooo! - The Math
This goes hand-in-hand with the equations. Hey kids, let’s try to learn a complex field of science, and just for yucks, the only way to get it is if you have mastered equally confusing and complicated calculus! - So Much Theory
You know you are learning something cool when you find out that this thing might be a foundational law of the universe, yet there is no practical way to definitively find out or apply the concept to your life. Why bother learning about things that you can observe or use in some meaningful way? - Free Body Diagrams
IYKYK. Who doesn’t love a massless, frictionless pulley connected to a spherical cow? Not to mention–more math! Have fun remembering trigonometry, everybody! - Greek Letters
Omega = delta theta over delta T? Are you teaching me about angular velocity or inviting me to a frat party? - Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
OK, this one is easy. Subatomic particles behave like waves, right? That obviously makes sense. So, if we shrank a little bunny rabbit running around on the Main Lawn down to the size of an electron, we could calculate how fast it is moving OR we could know where it is, but we couldn’t know both simultaneously. Ummm … yep. Sure. Bonus: The tiny particles change their behavior when we are watching, so that’s neat. - Special Relativity
Sure, frizzy-haired Einstein discovered it or invented it or whatever, so we love it … yippee! But just wrap your head around this: Distances like the length of the Roessler hallway and the 52.5 minutes of time it takes to finish a physics test are NOT independent of each other, but can be smooshed together and referred to as a single object called space-time! Get it? Yeah, me neither. Bonus: You can spend a bunch of your “space-time” trying to understand this, but it will never make sense. Enjoy! - Dark Matter & Dark Energy
Physicists tell us that these things make up 95% of the universe. Unfortunately, we can’t observe them and have zero idea what they are or even if they exist. So that’s satisfying. - Gravity
Hey everyone, there’s this super-basic, fundamental force that we all experience all day long, and it is a core part of our understanding of the universe. We will refer to it over and over again in physics class, but … there’s one teeny, tiny issue … it’s invisible, and physicists don’t understand anything about it except that it maybe involves warping of space-time (see No. 7). Oh … OK! - String Theory
Google it. I dare you. Here’s a teaser–reality is actually made up of impossibly tiny vibrating strings. Physics FTW!
Here are the top 10 reasons why biology is the best science:
- The Terminology
There are so many new words to learn such as phylogeny, lysosome, and vacuole. Instead of understanding a single equation or routine for solving an infinity of problems, you can dedicate your time to memorizing an infinity of vocabulary words in order to sort of solve one problem. - The Incomplete Reductionism
Instead of analyzing something all the way down to the fundamentals, you can lazily stop and pass off the problem to someone else. Organisms are made of cells, cells are made of organelles, organelles are made of proteins and proteins are made of … oh forget it, let the chemists and physicists do the rest of my work for me. - The Tautologies
What kind of organisms successfully reproduce? The fittest ones. How do we define which organisms are the fittest? They are the ones that successfully reproduce. Congratulations, you proved that 1 = 1. - “Random” Mutations
Every biologist knows that random mutations are necessary for evolution. But if they would have studied more physics, they would realize that no mutations are random. I guarantee you that they are caused by very specific and well-understood interactions between matter and energy. There is nothing random about a high-energy X-ray breaking a covalent bond in a DNA molecule. That’s what X-rays do when they hit organic molecules! - Convergent Evolution
You’re telling me a falcon is more closely related to a parrot than it is to a hawk? Falcons and hawks only appear to be closely related but are actually very distant cousins? Sure … and maybe I’m more closely related to my pet goldfish than I am to my brother. - Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium
Hardy and Weinberg tell us that allele frequencies don’t change unless there are outside influences … and these influences include genetic drift, mate choice, assortative mating, natural selection, sexual selection, mutation, gene flow, meiotic drive, genetic hitchhiking, and population bottlenecks. That’s pretty much everything. It’s like saying a rock I throw up into the air will hit the moon, unless there are outside influences such as gravity, air resistance, the limited speed at which I can throw a rock, and the fact that the moon is in constant motion and could move out of the way. Thank you, captains of the obvious. You became famous for this?! - The Primordial Soup
Do you have no idea how life first emerged? Do you want to pretend that you do? Great! Just say, “It emerged from the primordial soup.” The only thing that emerges from soup is hot steam and the oyster cracker I pushed down with my spoon. - Taxonomy
Cogito ergo sum. Carpe diem. Caveat emptor. When someone uses too much Latin in their speech, you should become immediately suspicious. Dead languages are not usually the best way to communicate. Cui bono? - Invasive Species
Definitely not a term of endearment. Would you also label a physicist sitting in on one of your classes an invasive scientist? You’re better than this. - Mitochondria
Mitochondria are…nobody really remembers! Oh wait, they are the “powerhouse of the cell.” That’s all students walk away with. And the sun is “the powerhouse of the solar system!” Am I both a biologist and an astrophysicist now?
Phil Frankel is the AP Physics teacher at Chadwick.
The Mainsheet 