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How To Solve Hard Physics Problems

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How To Solve Physics Problems Faster

Mathematical Physics : Solving Hard Physics problems

The most common answer to the question, how to solve any problem faster is that you need to practice. Yes, to solve any problems, not just physics but any problems, you need to practice at least for one hour on a daily basis. Yes, you have to train your brain in such a way that while reading the problem itself, your brain should start branching it into the branch of physics, and you should easily note down the equations that are needed to be solved. There is no shortcut for this process, or for the practice that needs to be done.

What Do You Know

Think about what details the problem mentions. Unless the question is really bad, they probably gave you exactly the information you need to solve the problem. Dont be surprised if sometimes this information is coded in language a problem that mentions a spring with the mass removed from the end is telling you something important about the quantities of force. Write down every quantity you know from the problem, then proceed to

How To Do It

When encountering a problem you don’t immediately know how tosolve, make a list of the things you know that might be relevant -either from your own experience, or information that is given that youtrust to be true.

Make another list of what it is that you don’t know, and want tofigure out. Usually it will be a shorter list than the first.Include not only the ultimate goal, but everything else that might berelevant that you don’t know yet.

Remember some formulas and concepts that youfeel might be relevant. You may want to copy them into another list.

With your skills and insight, attempt to build a bridge – some kindof direct relationship – between what you know and what you want toknow. Find several relationships between different pieces if youcan. Write equations describing them if you can. Draw diagrams orpictures representing these relationships if you can.

If you get stuck, or encounter a new unknown quantity, identify thethings you need to know to get unstuck, and repeat this process.

When you have challenges:

  • Review the list of things you know, making sure you understand what they mean.
  • Think about groups of similar concepts, and how they might relate. Examples: power, current, voltage speed, velocity, acceleration.
  • Think about ways you can test some of your assumptions. For example, you can use an equation to make a prediction that is easy to check. Or you may be able to use units.

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Solving Problems In Physics

After having done the math in the solution stage of problem solving, it is tempting to think you are done. But, always remember that physics is not math. Rather, in doing physics, we use mathematics as a tool to help us understand nature. So, after you obtain a numerical answer, you should always assess its significance:

Contributors and Attributions Problem-solving skills are clearly essential to success in a quantitative course in physics. More important, the ability to apply broad physical principlesusually represented by equationsto specific situations is a very powerful form of knowledge. It is much more powerful than memorizing a list of facts. Analytical skills and problem-solving abilities can be applied to new situations whereas a list of facts cannot be made long enough to contain every possible circumstance. Such analytical skills are useful both for solving problems in this text and for applying physics in everyday life.

But Wait Which Formula Do I Use

You look at your formula sheet and you have three different ones that are marked under the problems subject. How do you know which one to use?? Naturally, you begin panicking again.

Dont panic.

Physical equations didnt just land on scientists from the sky, all wrapped up nicely in mathematical formulation. They are derived from physical properties, and they are all interconnected. In most physics problems, there is more than one way to reach a solution, often meaning that more than one equation can work. In fact, in the vast majority of questions, no matter what equation you use assuming that it is relevant to the subject matter, and that you insert the proper variables you will reach a solution.

The way to know which equation to use depends on two main issues: the variables given to you in the equation and your experience. The more problems you solve, the more you will become familiar with strategies for picking the right formula. Until that happens, though, look for the formula that has the variable you already know and connects those to the one variable you are missing. If you have two missing variables, you will likely need two equations.

Slow down, look at your variable list, and find the right ones. Its like a puzzle, and the more you do it, the better you get at it.

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How To Solve Physics Problems Easily

Now you must be thinking about how you can solve the physics problem easily? There is only one solution to this question. You need to be good with your theory. Because if you are not good with your theory you will not understand the problem. You need to understand the formulas, the equation and then you should be able to implement them in the problem. You need to have a good understanding of the variables. Unless you are not thorough with the variables you cannot solve any physics problem easily.

Who Is The Father Of Physics

Galileo GalileiModern physics / Father.

  • COSMOLOGY. What came before the big bang? …
  • CYCLING. How does a bicycle stay upright? …
  • QUANTUM SCIENCE. Where does quantum weirdness end? …
  • TIME AND SPACE. Why do we move forwards in time? …
  • MISSING DIMENSIONS. Why does space have three dimensions? …
  • CASIMIR EFFECT. Can we get energy from nothing? …
  • LIQUID CHAOS. …
  • FIELD OF ICE.
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    How To Solve Difficult Problems In Jee And Neet

    Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment. -Oprah Winfrey

    This article is specially to encourage students to prepare more and more. This is to make them aware with the value of preparation. This article also focuses what strategies one should follow before and during the exam and get better results. There are many students who toil for years but are not able to crack the examination. The reason is they lack in effective techniques to solve problems quickly on the examination day. Here we have come up with the best possible approach that you can adopt for solving difficult problems in JEE and NEET. So, read the article carefully on how to solve difficult problems during your exam day if you want to turn your potential into success!

    Analyze the Problem

    It is very important that as soon as you get the question paper, you must quickly glance through the entire paper and assess the overall difficulty level of the questions. If you find any problem which is very difficult to solve, re-read it and write down all possible points and conditions hidden in the texts of the problem. Because, many times the actual context of the problem is only understood after writing down all the information given in the problem. This is because visual thinking is easier than mental thinking. So, your first step should be to analyze the problem and noting down all the possible points and conditions given in it.

    Learn the Formulas

    Take help from alternative methods

    Challenging Physics Problems And Questions

    How To Solve Any Physics Problem

    Here we are publishing a large number of physics problems and questions, with selective hints as well. These numerical problems and questions are distributed among 7 sets of Questions for you. The first set is being published on this post body itself and the rest of the sets are being embedded in a pdf file, which is also available right on this page for you. The Standard of these sets is MEDIUM . Please check and attempt these. We are coming up with more numerical in the coming days, which will have harder sets as well.

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    Extensions Of This Technique

    In higher level physics, youll see a few other extensions of this technique: the use of symmetry to reduce the number of equations you have to consider, the technique, and the eigenfunction expansion technique . Since I dont want to duplicate work and the separation of variables technique leads directly into an eigenfunction expansion, Ill only do an example of the symmetry technique.

    How To Solve Hard Physics Problems

    How to Solve Any Physics Problem. Baffled as to where to begin with a physics problem? There is a very simply and logical flow process to solving any physics problem. Calm down. It is just a problem, not the end of the world!

    It is said that the material is like a pyramid the new information is built upon the old. A better thought is to expand on that saying by changing it to The material is set up like a pyramid made of vines the information builds upon each other but also is woven together. Dont view each subject as an individual isolated block they all intermix and grow together into one complete subject.

    Video advice: Mathematical Physics : Solving Hard Physics problems

    3Draw a diagram. It cannot be emphasized enough how much easier a problem will be once it is drawn out. Ideally, a free body diagram is what you will draw, but even drawing how you imagine the wording of the problem inside your head will make solving this problem easier. There are often marks awarded for drawing a correct diagram. Once you are done with this, try to bring this drawing into motion like a movie if you can. This is not really necessary but will give you a clear understanding of what is happening in the problem.

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    How To Solve Physics Problems Even The Most Difficult Ones

  • Identify what is asked in the problem
  • Recall the concepts related to the problem and identify the formula to be used
  • List the given values in the problem
  • Make sure that only one variable is unknown
  • If more variables are unknown, try to solve them using the given values
  • Calculate the answer using the formula
  • State the answer to the problem
  • Identify What is Asked

    Michael is driving his sports car at 30 m/s when he sees a dog on the road ahead. He slams on the brakes and comes to a stop in 3.0 second. What was the acceleration of Michaelss car?

    What is asked in the problem? It is the acceleration of the car that Michael is driving.

    Recall Concepts and Identify the Formula

    Acceleration = Final Velocity Initial Velocity / Time

    How To Solve Physics Problems

    Physics, despite it’s reputation is an amazing science and with not as much effort as you would expect you can make calculations on some very interesting/practical phenomena. In this instructable I intend to show you how to make and understand some of those calculations, a minimum of algebra is necessary but the rest i will explain here. Please note this is my first instructable, more will follow on topics such as basic electronics and animation by computer .

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    Dont Plug Numbers In Until You Have To

    Because Ive been using this technique throughout all my examples, I wont give an example of this guideline.

    Keeping everything in variables has several benefits:

    • You can kind of tell if an answer makes sense by changing the given values to their logical extremes. For example, if the force of gravity goes up as you move away from a mass, you probably made an error somewhere.
    • Its much harder to find which specific step led to an error in a series of arithmetic operations than it is to find an error in a series of algebraic operations.
    • Variables will often cancel out leaving you with a simpler equation and less work to do.
    • As we did in the An Advanced Trick section, both examples in the Look at Each Dimension Individually section, and the Energy Conservation example, you can often find parts of the expression that you can convert into something you already know and reduce the amount of arithmetic you have to do.

    You can generalize this principle to things like not expanding everything out until you have to, such as not breaking things into individual dimensions until you have your equations, not expanding factored polynomials, etc. You should also look for simplifications you can make in the math, whether by factoring out variables, making the variables dimensionless, introducing constants, etc.

    Weightage Of Physics Problems In Exams

    We now have learned why physics problems are important. But still, many students prefer to skip the problems. They think that solving theory questions can gain them more marks and it will take less time. But if you can go for the theory, that means you have an understanding of the theory. So you only practice a bit for solving the problems easily. This is because the problems do carry a lot of weightage. Of course, the weighting is different for different standards but they can help you gain marks. If you solve a problem correctly with all steps and your results are rights, there is no chance of losing marks.

    The weightage of problems goes on increasing as per standards. This is because it is said that the one who can solve physics problems has a perfect understanding of the topics. Which is also true to some extent.

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    Physics Problems And Questions: Question Bank

    Physics Problems and Questions for School and Competitive Examinations and Tests

    1) A stone is falling freely from rest and the total distance covered by it in the last second of its motion equals the distance covered by it in the first 3 seconds of its motion. How long does the stone remain in the air?

    2) A circular track of radius 100 m is banked at an angle of 30°. If the coefficient of friction between the wheels of a car and the road is 0.5, then what is the optimum speed of the car to avoid wear and tear on its tires, and maximum permissible speed to avoid slipping?

    3) The velocity of an object is V1=8 m/s towards N and the velocity of a different object is V2= 6 m/s towards West. Determine V1-V2.

    4) A 20 kg iron block is kept on a horizontal table. It is pulled with a rope which is at 30 degrees with the horizontal floor. If the coefficient of friction is 0.4 then what is the minimum force required along the rope to pull the block?

    5) What is the value of the coefficient of static friction of an inclined plane where a mass of 50 kg is tending to slip downwards when the angle of inclination is made 15 degrees?

    6) What is the mechanical advantage?

    7) A force of 200 N makes an angle of theta with the X-axis and has a scalar Y component of 30 N.Find both the scalar X component of the force and angle theta.

    8) Write and derive the work-energy theorem.

    11) Can we have the value of the coefficient of friction more than one?

    12) Define the equilibrium of a system?

    Physics Problems For Class 10

    Solving elastic collision problems the hard way | Physics | Khan Academy

    A physics problem for the tenth class is always straight forward. The tenth standard physics syllabus doesnt even have that big of an equation. The formulas used for the tenth standard are easy too. The values for the variables are also given in most of the questions. If the question is descriptive, then you need to draw a diagram.

    Most of the electricity problems consist of circuits and you need to draw the circuits. For drawing an electric circuit you need to read the question properly. You need to note which components are used. You also need to be careful with the resistor, are they connected parallel or in series in the circuit.

    Once you get a proper diagram you can easily solve such problems.

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    What Are You Trying To Find

    This simple step can save a lot of time. Before starting to solve the problem, think about what the answer will look like. What are the units is the final answer going to be in kilograms or liters? Also, consider what other physical quantities might relate to your answer. If youre trying to find speed, it might be useful to find acceleration, then solve that for speed. Determining restrictions on the answer early also ensures you answer the specific question a common mistake in physics is solving for the wrong thing.

    How To Approach Physics Problems

    Now that we know exactly how physics numerical and problems are, lets find a way to approach them. Physics is the subject of many sub-branches like electrodynamics, mechanical, classical, optics, etc. We first categorize any problem we come across into the branch of physics. Like if there are any problems based on cross-products and dot products they can be classified as electrodynamics problems for the time being, similarly if come across the terms like at the rays, the light coming from, etc, this can be classified as optics problem and so on.

    Once we get to know from which branch the problem is from, it is easy to find the appropriate equation to solve the problems. This is because as we all know equations from the optics branch are different from the equations in any other branch. Hence while approaching a physics problem, we need to first categorize it into the branch of physics.

    After branching the problem, we need to read it correctly. We need to note the variables that are mentioned in the problem. From the variables, we can exactly figure out the equation to be used to solve the problem. Again there are many common variables that are repeatedly used in the different equations. Hence we have to be very careful while choosing an equation.

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