Exploring the Foundations of Modern Physics: Relativity and Quantum Mechanics

[cknits99]

Hi!
I'm a junior in high school, and I plan to major in physics (and possibly chemistry) at a college level. I'm taking physics in high school this year, but prior to that , I'd done some research on my own, and I had begun to fall in love with the subjects of relativity and quantum physics. I was disappointed to discover that my class wouldn't cover these topics, so I have continued to research them on my own. I'm really excited to have discovered this community and I Iook forward to discussing physics with all of you!
-Courtney

 

[jedishrfu]

Welcome to PF!

QM and Relativity are two of the pillars of Physics and worthy of detailed and extensive study. One thing to be careful of are popular treatments of these subjects where one can get confused by the metaphors used.

The most famous one is the rubber sheet and bowling ball used in General Relativity to describe how matter warps space and how space then directs matter how to move. Students then ask how does the ball stay stuck to the sheet? how come we don't see the rotation the ball makes as it "rolls' on the sheet? ...

So be aware that popular analogies can't always be used to reason your way through physics and may confuse you as you begin your studies of physics and try to correlate the math you learn with the analogy you've seen.