• Question: why is physics so boaring

    Asked by benandizaak to Carys, Chris, Katherine, Simone on 21 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Katherine Jones

      Katherine Jones answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      I didn’t like physics at school… I think it was harder to see the point in real life of what we were doing, compared to chemistry and biology.

      That’s just me, though. Some of my friends who did physics at university thought it was great!

    • Photo: Simone Bijvoet

      Simone Bijvoet answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      I agree that when I was in school I really hated physics as well. Especially because it was given by two older men who really didn’t help making the subject any more interesting. But actually, now I’ve learned some more about physics over time, I think it’s quite interesting and I like how you can explain a lot of physics stuff in a really practical way. For example why do you eventually slow down if you stop pushing down the gas pedal when your driving a car? That’s the wind and resistance of the tires and stuff pushing it back in a way and slowing it down (plus, I always liked making those little drawings and having to place all the arrows representing the different forces. Do you have to do that as well?)

    • Photo: Carys Cook

      Carys Cook answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      There is an important difference between the physics you are taught in school and the physics that people study when they are scientists – as with any science subject, depending on what level your education is at determines how simplified the science that you are taught is. When you go to university, you are finally taught the highest level of understanding about a subject, which is often far too complicated for school science lessons. This often means that science lessons are comparatively boring! Or, it could be that you just don’t like physics…I didn’t either – i’m awful at maths! 😉

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