The Good, the Bad, and the Physics

Hello all,

 

The primary reason that I am pursuing a degree in physics is so that I can teach it at the secondary level. In high school, physics is considered by an overwhelming amount of students to be the most difficult subject to understand. This is usually because it not only involves its own conceptual difficulties but also relies very heavily on mathematics, and we all know how notorious math is for being despised by most every student in school.

Given my hopes of being a teacher it should be of no surprise that I’m also pursuing a degree in education (Clark University has an outstanding 5^th year M.A. program for education students!) One of the classes I’m taking this semester is an education class called ‘Complexities of Urban Schools’. So far it’s an awesome class. The professor does an amazing job (Prof. John Ameer), and the subject content is just beyond fascinating. In a nutshell, the course examines the more or less failing

Oscillations, Waves, and Optics

Hello all and thanks for reading!

So tomorrow I have an exam in my physics class, Oscillations, Waves, and Optics (PHYS 130). This class covers, as the course name implies, several topics within physics. First we covered oscillatory motion, a special type of motion in which an object moves cyclically and returns to a fixed point after each full cycle (the fixed time interval in which the object completes one full cycle is defined as the period T of the object's motion). One specific case of oscillatory motion is simple harmonic motion (SHM), which is the basis for the behavior of waves.

And so the study of SHM leads directly into the second part of the course, which is about waves. A wave, in the simplest sense, is the transfer of energy through a medium via a pulse (also called a disturbance). There are several basic concepts about waves

First Post: a bit of my academic history

Hello all,

Given that this is my first post, let me start with some quick basic information. My name is Dan Rillovick. I'm a sophomore (class of 2015) at Clark University (in Worcester, MA) and am majoring in physics. I was born in Salem, MA and lived in Wakefield, MA until the age of nine when I moved to New Hampshire, which is where my home is today. I chose Clark University because I wanted to return to the city after having spent the entirety of my teenage days in the rural backdrop of northern New Hampshire. Why I chose to study physics is a much more complicated question and thus has a much more complicated answer. And although I do talk briefly on my profile page about my motivations, I'd prefer not to discuss why I am studying physics just yet.

I'd like to use this post to share a bit of academic history. I think my reasons for studying physics, when I do discuss them further, will carry much more meaning if you know my story and how I got to where I am.