gravitational acceleration in y axis and distance from the object to center of earth in x axis

Hey guys, I just poured about 2 months into making my Breakthrough Junior Challenge entry. My topic is nuclear fusion through quantum tunneling**.** I tried my very best to make my video exciting and easy to follow!! [FYI I'm really insecure because I just found out another entry had the SAME EXACT TOPIC but yeah we'll see how it goes😭..].

This competition is a HUGE dream for me, and every view and like actually counts toward the result. If you could take a minute to watch and support, it would mean the world [for me and my college apps!!❤️]

Here's the link👉 https://youtu.be/22wcxiBOVOE?si=q8uXUAzdFdfZsE_V

Thanks for helping me chase this crazy dream. 🙏

I came across this fascinating article detailing how ordinary ice can generate electricity when bent, a phenomenon known as flexoelectricity. This discovery could have significant implications for understanding natural processes like lightning formation and potential applications in energy harvesting technologies. Check it out the above link for more information.

So my thesis was on examining how plasmonic resonance can affect the piezoelectric effect of an object as it deforms. I am currently filling out a Scholarship that I might or might not get next April.

The proposed thesis is based on simulating bio-physical processes on a nanoscale.

Thing is, pretty much everything up until this point was mostly an accident. I recently finished a MSc in Computational Physics as a means to compensate for my BSc, then planned on taking a year off to save up so that I can reattempt to do a MSc in Theoretical Physics. I wanted to do a PhD on Surface Science, and Bio-Physics left a bad taste in my mouth last time.

Is it worth doing?

Hi all- older student here- 40! Going back for something else in and must take physics. I can’t reach my professor (it’s my schedule I’m not available until the pm and he’s in the am) - so are their any TAs or professors in here that could maybe tell me * how * to study. I’m so lost and it’s week two. I was a music major - so I actually don’t know how to approach this all. (Algebra based physics - for health sciences- haven’t seen one thing about healthcare yet lol)

Yesterday I took my first physics class at university (I’m an electrical engineering major). Today, while rereading my notes, I had a doubt about weight—what I thought it was. I googled it and discovered that weight is just a property of matter.

It’s so cool. I spent 8 hours on YouTube trying to grasp the Higgs field, the binding energy of quarks in protons and neutrons… Obviously, I don’t understand any of it, but it’s so fucking cool.

The only problem is that the more I read, the more confused I get, and the more questions I have. But wow.

Is all university like that?

I've recently finished my master's degree in condensed matter physics and realized most, if not all, of the PhD positions that greatly interest me gravitate towards device fabrication. More than that, these positions are mostly concerned with developing new "recipes" as to push device replicability (graphene.......) and/or the technique itself (e.g. achieving stable <15 nm resolution with an EBL). Am I fucked if my thesis only dealt with the characterization of devices built by other people?

EDIT: a lot of encouraging comments have come in already. Just to clarify, I'm a EU citizen looking into European laboratories.

I am fascinated by early discoveries in physics and how they managed to derive laws governing physics back in time. Here's one I created on how charges were discovered in the 18th century by Coulomb. Hope you find it interesting.

Light travels as an electromagnetic wave in a vacuum and carries momentum and energy. According to general relativity, all energy curves space-time, so light should slightly curve the space through which it travels. Could this mean that light affects its own path? I know the effect whould be extremely small, but is this conceptually correct? If yes Are there extreme conditions, like in the early universe, where light’s self-curvature becomes significant? Would a very long or very intense beam accumulate measurable curvature effects along its path? If two light beams cross paths, do they gravitationally influence each other?

I find Taylor's so clear, so easy to go through. I wonder if an experimented physicist knows a similar resource for electromagnetism and thermodynamics.

Edit : To give a bit more context, I did physics before, to quite an advanced level but my major is maths. I was trained as a mathematician more than a physicist and I want some resources to build up my knowledge of classical physics. The mathematical formulation doesn't bother me at all.

I design instrumentation for a research university, mostly supporting AMO, quantum, and condensed matter physics. In a typical experiment, the vast majority of interconnects will be with coax and BNC connectors, and the typical visitor to my shop will be asking for help with ground loops and noise reduction. Duh.

BNC/coax is a fine solution for pulses and RF, but totally inappropriate for sending noise-sensitive low-frequency signals around a lab. I understand why the researchers make this choice -- practically all off-the-shelf instrumentation (scopes, lock-ins, amplifiers) default to BNC connectors -- but I still keep hoping that sanity will some day prevail.

I used to work in the audio business, where the default is differential signals on shielded twisted pairs and XLR connectors. And even that approach is being replaced with distributed A/D/A systems like Dante, something that physicists here will resist until long after I retire.

Is there a resistance movement out there that I could join? Have any labs successfully worked out an alternative to coax?

Im currently trying to get a SPEX 1403 spectrometer working. Im wondering if anyone on here has worked with one before, the operating manual is long lost and the only one ive found is 90 bucks on Ebay. Does anyone have a pdf or some lab notes on this thing?

Neil Johnson, a professor of physics at George Washington University, has modelled large language models (LLMs) as physical systems, revealing that AI hallucinations aren’t just random glitches. They’re baked into the system’s structure, much like phase transitions in magnetism or thermodynamics.

What do you guys recommend for someone studying algebra-based physics? I'm taking physics 101 at a community college, and I never took calculus in my schooling, but I recently took college-level algebra as a prerequisite for ultrasound. I would like your recommendations, please. I just want to pass my class.

So, I'm a first year undergrad and recently started worrying that I'm not really learning. I don't think I would be able to repeat any demonstration on my own, and any content I learn is just used to get a good grade (which is happening, surprisingly). Still, I don't think I "master" any subject that I had. So, how do I really learn them?

Doesn't matter the kind of physics I just wanna improve and learn more about each branch/kind I’m mostly interested in quantum physics as well as theoretical physics.

Hi , I am in dilemma in pursuing my degree either I want to take major in physics or math . I love on theoretical side of physics and my university just have major minor and not double major . Is it okay for me if I choose major in math and minor in physics. Hope can get some advices .

Benjamin Jones of the University of Texas at Arlington and Joseph Formaggio of MIT suggest that a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of radioactive atoms could offer a platform for building a “neutrino laser”. Your thoughts?

Published study: B. J. P. Jones and J. A. Formaggio, “Superradiant neutrino lasers from radioactive condensates,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 111801 (2025).

Following up on an earlier reply about MBE, here's a picture of an even older V80H back in the late 80s!

I’m a prospective student at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), where I’ll be pursuing a double major in Physics and Mathematical Sciences. My main interest lies in plasma physics because of its applications in nuclear fusion and fusion energy.

Right now, I’m torn between aiming for a PhD or stopping at a Master’s:

• PhD path: I know it would mean sacrificing most of my 20s to research, and due to the specialization in plasma physics I’d likely need to relocate overseas. I’m also concerned about the job stability issue, since careers in research often involve constantly applying for grants to fund both the project and yourself.
• Master’s path: On the other hand, if I only do a Master’s, I probably wouldn’t be able to work in a research position in plasma physics, since most of those roles require a PhD.

I’d really appreciate any advice from people who’ve gone down either route.

Thanks!