Anyone taking/taken Engineering Physics? Options

[Coomer]

I'm in my first quarter of a year of engineering physics, and I'm always in class every day and paying attention every day, but I just can't grasp the concepts...it all makes sense up on the board when the teacher's doing it, but as soon as I get home and attempt to do the homework, I can't even begin to comprehend what's going on.

I even fully read the textbook chapters and look over all my notes and look up stuff on Google, but at the end of the night I just want to kill myself because I often work for 4-5 hours and get maybe 2 out of 10 problems right. And our homework is online so I face the reality that I'm completely stupid immediately rather than feeling good for the rest of the night and then realizing this fact in class.

Has anyone taken this class? If so, how'd you get through it? Does anyone know of any online resources for learning physics?

I just need to get through it for a couple more weeks, and then I'm changing my major for sure.

[mr_dude]

Don't worry too much, the best part about engineering is that the curve is normally about 50%.

Also, things are much harder the first few quarters, if you really want to do it, stick it out and you should be fine.

I'm finishing up my Electrical Engineering degree, so I've taken physics and engineering. I know Engineering Physics is its own program, but there's probably some overlap... what are you studying?

[Coomer]

I was hoping to get a degree in computer science, but that's not gonna happen. I'm just not smart enough to get around the physics requirement part of it, so I'm gonna do something else with my life.

Worse than college though, is that my parents will probably kick me outta the house and stuff if I fail this class. And I've already got a 74% with a test coming Tuesday that I'm going to fail for sure(probably 0%), and then a final that will drop my total grade below 60% for sure.

Oh, and the curve is very high...there's this one Korean exchange student(who can hardly speak Enligh...and I have to do a research paper with him) who has at least 98% in the class.

[orvillescelica]

yeah, i remember physics kicking my butt too. I think its because its much more theoretical, because i do fine in my engineering classes, which uses the same physics but is more applicational.

what kind of physics is it? Statics? Dynamics? thermal? Fluids? electrical? quantum? Maybe i can point you to a site that can help you depending on what you are studying.

im pretty good at statics and thermal, but i can rock any dynamics or fluids problem because thats my focus in grad school.

[mr_dude]

Heh, after doing hardware I realized I really wanted to do CS. Too bad at UCSD you can't switch into CS or CE. Luckily as a EE I can take any CS class I want

I had to stumble through four physics classes. Mechanics, electical, fluid/wave, and quantum. Electrical was (ironically) the hardest for me.

I work for Sun. I'm doing mechanical analysis so I do need to know physics, but on the coding end it doesn't matter. If you don't understand physics, it won't bite you in the ass later.

If you like coding (think you will) don't let the physics get in your way. Best thing for homework is to make friends. You have from now til Tuesday to study every example and homework problem in the chapter(s). That's what the Korean kid does. Hopefully it'll make sense, if not you might be able to get a lot of partial credit doing stuff from memory.

So what's the hard part? The calculus? The mechanics? IM me if you want, or keep on posting, but don't dispair.

[Consynx]

he has to be doing kinematics
all entry physics are
they start kinematics, have you touch or already know about chemical reactions.
go into energies, then i'd guess rotational motion(that's the way my class is going right now)

Coomer, about Physics, it's really not that hard...1/2 the time you just have to apply it to something you know
momentum, think of guns...why doesn't a gun weight next-to-nothing and the bullet be bigger? if it did, the person would fly faster than the bullet.

What happens in an elevator when it's going up fast, you are heavier feeling, what about down...you feel light.
that's the "roller-coaster" of Weight vs Centripetal force(or Normal)

hmm, energies...
Your car runs out of gas at the top of a hill...POTENTIAL to FLY
yea, this is the easiest i'd think so i wont even finish

i can try to help you with anything you have, but keep in mind i've only taken AP in high school, and the 1st semester as a Mech. Eng.

[Coomer]

Basically, so far we've done kinematic equations, forces, vectors, and now we're doing things like blocks moving down planes with tension and stuff, and the latest part is what is killing me...I just can't understand what's going on.

For example, here's one example problem:


It's just so incredibly confusing to me, no matter what I do to try to learn.

And the hard part for me is always setting up the equations...the calculus and algebra and trig. are fine.

Attached image(s)

 

[Consynx]

B Block:
T - mg = ma

A Block:
T - F(f) = ma

[Consynx]

err, this is hard to do on comp...hang in there

This post has been edited by Consynx: Nov 18, 2004 - 11:59 PM

[orvillescelica]

try drawing free body diagrams, they help!! describe all forces on al the blocks, it will help you visualize what forces are in the y or x direction.

well, in this example problem follow the strings... block B is pulling down on the string with a force of 21 N. So you need a minimum of 21N pulling on the other string to keep it from falling. The force that is pulling back in the direction of the string is friction. The force of friction in the string direction is F= (mu)Fn. So the force of friction needs to be 21N, and that must equal the normal force of block A and C times the coeff of friction given. So you have:

21N=(0.2)(44N+c)

comes out to c=61N


for part b, lets assume that there was no friction, then block b would fall at 9.81 m/s^2 because there is nothing opposing its fall. Thus it would drag block A with it at the same acceleration. But with friction this isnt the case.

So using F=ma, find the mass of block B assuming no friction. Thats just 21N=(m)(9.81)

now add friciton, (Force of B)-(Force normal of A)(coeff of friction)=(mass of B)(a)

solve for a

**edit** if this is wrong, someone please correct me. I havent done this is a while

This post has been edited by orvillescelica: Nov 19, 2004 - 12:16 AM

[Consynx]

there you go coo-mang
iunno if the 2nd is wrong because i haven't done that is so long...lemme know if you can't read, i'll flip and darken

This post has been edited by Consynx: Nov 19, 2004 - 12:27 AM

[saleeka]

see now i'd love to be an architect or an automotive engineeer, but the thing is...

I HATE MATH!!!!!!!!!!!

so yeah, pretty much screwed there, lol...

[Coomer]

Thanks for all the help guys.

I managed to get the first part right, but I couldn't get the right answer for the second part. I got 6.14, 3.2, and 6.72, but none of those were right, and I still don't understand what's going on.

[orvillescelica]

i use to have physics HW online as well.... make sure you have the correct significant digits. Its stupid, but a lot of times the computer will accept the answer 6.198 and not 6.2

[Hanyo]

coomer are you using the static friction formula in part b?

post a picture of the work you did, so we can see what you did wrong..

This post has been edited by Hanyo: Nov 19, 2004 - 1:44 AM

[creis]

I had to do stuff like that in my HS physics class, it always seemed so simple, yet i could never get the right anser. I gave up any interest in physics or related topics.

[coustoe]

the biggest problem a lot of beginning engineering students have is not calculus or physics concepts but algebra. If your having problems with the equations and setting them up, i would seriously take a refresher course in algebra or buy a book, and brush up on the fundamentals. A lot of peole just through rote can do algebra very well, but this wont really help you unless you really know the fundamentals in applied calculus.

I forget who said it but calculus and applied calc is 80% algebra.

Oh I sucked at calc, and my grades werent the greatest and I had to take several courses over again but i eventually finished

This post has been edited by coustoe: Nov 19, 2004 - 9:08 AM

[coustoe]

I think very few people who get computer science/engineering degrees actually do research/theoretical work unless you get a graduate degree in that area, if you get a undergrad comp sci degree your job will be coding. there are very very few jobs out there that are low level and require you to develop new data structures/algorithms. Most of it is Application Development, you should look more towards Software Engineering Courses that deal with Software project management, development, design of large systems.

Higher level software design jobs that include Software Architecture pay morethen low level coding jobs (unless you have a phd in comp sci).

Look at Salary.com a Electrical engineer with 3 years of exp averages $57,000 a year while a Content Engineer at 3 years exp averages $92,000

This post has been edited by coustoe: Nov 19, 2004 - 9:05 AM

[celicarocker]

im going to fail physics too mang... dont feel bad

[juBz86]

i remember taking that stuff last semster. that was easy compared to phys2 which i pretty much failing right now.