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Anyone else struggle with Physics?

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Old 12-09-2011, 08:15 AM
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I try and forget it - that and calc. Org chem was a bitch too - but I AM the 99% that doesn't use their degree anyway, so what's it matter... Maybe there will be a helacious curve and you'll end up getting a B - but then there's always that smart Mother F who screws it all for everyone else...
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Old 12-09-2011, 08:23 AM
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If anyone every needs help with math I highly recommend heading over to Kahn Academy and watching the videos on whatever you are having problems with. I don't think I have ever seen someone make math seem so easy as this guy does.
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Old 12-09-2011, 09:03 AM
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physics made simple:

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Old 12-09-2011, 10:32 AM
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Seems like quite a few engineers on here. I'm hoping to be bitching about Physics sometime next year with you guys. I'll be heading to UNC- charlotte to study mechanical engineering and possibly a concentration in motorsports.
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Old 12-09-2011, 10:53 AM
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This thread makes me glad I only have to take stats for the bsn program.
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Old 12-09-2011, 11:04 AM
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Originally Posted by hustler
I did fairly well in physics but Cal 1 and 2 killed me and pushed me out of engineering. Now, I'm a nobody.
^me.

So why do you drive a race car and I'm working in a bookstore?

Oh wait, I remember. I got a philosophy degree and I bet you got something useful like a business degree.
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Old 12-09-2011, 11:42 AM
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Originally Posted by curly
Is this physics with calculus? Aka: 201,202,203 series instead of 101,102,103? If so, I took that at OSU while I was still in engineering. Curve was set around a D, class average was easily a C. It was ridiculous.
For me the big weed out course was Thermo 2. I failed that the first time through along with 90% of my class mates. Literally only one person in the class received a passing grade.

Physics was ok for me especially all the mechanical stuff until the second class where it got into the bazar stuff that is hard to wrap your head around like electric and magnetic field theory stuff I had issues grasping that.

Bob
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Old 12-09-2011, 11:50 AM
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Originally Posted by jboogie
Seems like quite a few engineers on here. I'm hoping to be bitching about Physics sometime next year with you guys. I'll be heading to UNC- charlotte to study mechanical engineering and possibly a concentration in motorsports.
Seeya next year then huh?
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Old 12-09-2011, 12:20 PM
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Originally Posted by bbundy
For me the big weed out course was Thermo 2. I failed that the first time through along with 90% of my class mates. Literally only one person in the class received a passing grade.
Thermo was tough. Luckily, I had a professor that made it simple; you either learned the stuff or you failed. He quized at least once a week, and if it was obvious people weren't getting it, he tried the same material again until people did get it.

My roommate used to wake up screaming from nightmares about Calc IV. I was seroiusly concerned for his sanity at one point.
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Old 12-09-2011, 12:44 PM
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Originally Posted by Gryff
Seeya next year then huh?
Really hoping to, Gotta sell my damn house first! Lots of equity so if I have to sell cheap I will. Are you just starting?
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Old 12-09-2011, 01:16 PM
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In all seriousness, if any one needs tutoring in math, don't be afraid to send me a PM. I've been tutoring at the local college for a while now and also do help over skype, email, etc...

Anything from basic algebra to calc.4 and anything in between. Just let me know and I'll be glad to help.

No skype sex until homework is done
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Old 12-09-2011, 01:23 PM
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Originally Posted by rleete
Thermo was tough. Luckily, I had a professor that made it simple; you either learned the stuff or you failed. He quized at least once a week, and if it was obvious people weren't getting it, he tried the same material again until people did get it.

My roommate used to wake up screaming from nightmares about Calc IV. I was seroiusly concerned for his sanity at one point.
In my thermo class you could do all the homework problems understand how they worked and when you went in to take a test it felt like all the problems were from another class you hadn't bothered to go to all year and on a different subject and you were under a time crunch to complete all the problems in the allotted time. Even if you could find old tests it didn’t help.

Thermo I => A
Thermo II => F
Thermo II => A second time with new instructor
Heat transfer => A
Fluid Mechanics => A

Bob
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Old 12-09-2011, 01:34 PM
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Lots of A's in here. I've got to get my **** together. I got a bunch of B's in everything.

I assume this carries some importance when I try to transfer.
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Old 12-09-2011, 01:44 PM
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Physics wasn't too bad for me, but at Calc II I started questioning my direction (mech. engineering) and looked at some Comp Sci. and philosophy courses that looked fun. Calc III clinched the ME thing for me, and I've been happily programming computers for the last 20 years (while my BA, Phil. collects dust).
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Old 12-09-2011, 02:13 PM
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Originally Posted by MartinezA92
Lots of A's in here. I've got to get my **** together. I got a bunch of B's in everything.

I assume this carries some importance when I try to transfer.
Yep, it will make a big difference depending on what you are getting into. I have to retake a couple of classes (Trig and now physics) to get my GPA up to a good enough level. You may get into the school you want, but the program you are looking at may be super competitive. Around here, mechanical engineering programs are really difficult to get into, very competitive.

You can show up naked smeared with **** and they'll let you into civil engineering =P

For the record, I was a HS dropout. Dropped out at 17 with only one credit left to graduate. Went back to college for a bit when I was 22 to work on math then full bore when I was 24 (last year) to work on my engineering transfer.

There is a reason that valuable degrees are worth it. They are a lot of hard work, they kick your ***, but you learn a lot and can have a lot of fun if you make it your hobby.

My friends make fun of me when they come over and see endless reams of scratch paper with computations all over the place lol.
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Old 12-11-2011, 10:31 AM
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Man I wish I could get a bunch of A's...

Don't worry about it OP. I am in my 4th year of mechanical engineering rocking a 2.4 GPA, and I have had an internship with US Air and am going to have one with MoTeC. Just keep at it, and most importantly, join a FSAE team haha.
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Old 12-11-2011, 01:20 PM
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Bits of wisdom gleaned from my 100 years as an Engineering student:

1.) Your boss makes more money as a Costco manager than she did as an engineer because she was a poor engineer, not because Costco pays its managers so well. There are excellent female engineers, but there are also a very great number of really bad ones. The female brain tends to be really excellent at retaining knowledge, and really terrible at applying that retained knowledge to real world examples. That isn't sexist, its just that they're genetically wired differently than men are. Their evolutionary motivations and advantages don't lend themselves to engineering as much as they do to other sciences.

2.) Having a degree does NOT make you a good engineer. My dad is one of the best engineers I have ever met, and he has a geography degree. One of the local ricer kids has his Masters in Aerospace Engineering, and he's too stupid to tie his own shoes.

3.) For me, having really good examples, and learning WHAT you're doing with the numbers makes all the difference in the world. You may be able to smash all the steps of your instructors favorite impulse/ momentum problems into your head and pass the test, but wrapping your brain around the concept that impulse is the amount of effort it takes to change the state of a body, and really absorbing the concepts involved helps me be able to really work my way through a problem instead of memorizing a list of steps that may or may not be applicable in real world design problems.
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Old 12-11-2011, 01:21 PM
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BTW, that Kahn Academy looks really promising. That's getting saved for next semester.
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Old 12-11-2011, 02:27 PM
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Originally Posted by vehicular
1.) Your boss makes more money as a Costco manager than she did as an engineer because she was a poor engineer, not because Costco pays its managers so well. There are excellent female engineers, but there are also a very great number of really bad ones.
I got myself into a world of crap on another forum, because I posted nearly the same thing. Male engineers do it because they like it, and continue to do engineering outside the workplace. Every good engineer I've ever worked with, without exception, is into cars, R/C, model rocketry, clockmaking, model engines or some other form of engineering. Women leave work, and that's it. For them, it's a job, not a passion. However, women make better engineering managers. Being able to handle nerds is like raising children, I guess.

Originally Posted by vehicular
2.) Having a degree does NOT make you a good engineer.
I've worked with many who are good in a classroom, but couldn't engineer a good ****. Book learning is different from application to the real world. Most doctorates are nearly helpless when it comes to solving problems, at least until they get half a dozen years of experience.
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Old 12-11-2011, 02:42 PM
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Originally Posted by jboogie
Really hoping to, Gotta sell my damn house first! Lots of equity so if I have to sell cheap I will. Are you just starting?
nope, 3/5 years currently.

No skype sex until homework is done
Damn! Is it worth trying??

Also, for everyone posting about book smarts versus actually applying said smarts to the real world, I couldnt agree with you more! I know some people who dont even understand the concept of how an engine runs... but thats just the way things are.
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