HACKER Q&A
📣 the_only_law

How can I get the equivalent of undergrad phsyics knowlege?


Despite the growth of MOOCS and other online courses, this area seems to be rather lacking (along with mathematics)

Not looking for anything super in depth, but what's the quickest most streamlined way of getting the equivalent knowledge you'd get in a say, engineering program?


  👤 leephillips Accepted Answer ✓
There is no shortcut to these things. You have to work through some textbooks, doing the problems. The Feynman Lectures on Physics are great, and they are free online. These three volumes will give you a good overview and a taste of what is beautiful and exciting about physics.

👤 GrumpyYoungMan
If you're after a MOOC-like experience, I'd recommend CalTech's highly-regarded "The Mechanical Universe" series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8_xPU5epJddRABXqJ5h5... It covers basic mechanics, E&M, and a bit of QM.

As others have pointed out, you won't really get much out of it without having the necessary mathematical background and doing the physics exercises. The Mechanical Universe textbooks are still available on Amazon. If you prefer a more recent textbook, Serway's "Physics for Scientists and Engineers" is well regarded, as is Halliday & Resnick, though the latter is aimed more at career physicists.

[EDIT] Regarding the Feynman Lectures on Physics mentioned elsewhere, while Feynman indeed intended it for physics undergraduates, if you read his biographies and the views of his contemporaries, it was famous for being utterly impenetrable for actual undergraduates. (One might even say the FLoP was a flop.) It would probably not be a good idea to use it as your text; I've never heard of any undergraduate physics course that uses it.



👤 fortunajs
Halliday, Resnick & Walker - Fundamentals of Physics