Physics, or electronics? You decide.

37637598 on 16/8/2007 at 22:14

Thanks for all your help and information, and yes I am a man/guy/dude/male/dominantkidding (*gets used tampons thrown at him)

I suppose you might ask him if he finds much relation in what he does, tward electronics. And why oil doesn't nearly react to vibrations when it is lighter weight than water (which reacts rather well)... and perhaps what kind of preperation I should consider before taking on such courses.

Thanks again!

theBlackman on 17/8/2007 at 08:21

Physics is a very broad field. For example, I have a friend who is an Astrophycisist specializing in gas giants, and the distortion effects of Black holes on space gases, and the like.

I have another who is into "mechanical" physics, and a third who specializes in physics dealing with "electricity and magnetism" only.

I presume from your initial post that those physics dealing with magnetism and electical interaction is more what you have in mind. As was stated, much of the newer thrust is in the theoretical, although the use of magnetism, electrical and plasma in telecommunications and computer systems and devices is also on the rise.

You need to take a good look at the field, fields of study and application and narrow it down a bit.

Discounting the first few years of "basic" studies, you literally have a world of choices to narrow in on.

Good luck.

Peanuckle on 18/8/2007 at 07:46

We all hate you. Go find your spiritual guides elsewhere.

Seriously though, If your up to it, I would recommend practical/applied physics so you can get a job testing weapons for the army. I was watching them do that on the history channel and that job was AWESOME! They get big chunky government contracts to fire tank cannons and tell people how fast they shoot.

*This is obviously an oversimplification, but dang thats a cool job! :thumb:

dvrabel on 18/8/2007 at 17:14

Quote Posted by 37637598

I would like to program too, but I would be interesten in the microscopic, and even smaller building blocks to designing IC's, and actually analyzing the behaviour of the particles and all that fun stuff. Basically I'd make the IC's, or design them, and my bitches in the programming epartment would finish em' off.

You have it backwards. ICs are designed in an (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_description_language) HDL (such as VHDL or Verilog) and then synthesized through several steps into the mask sets used to manufacture the IC.

crunchy on 23/8/2007 at 01:33

Quote Posted by Peanuckle

Seriously though, If your up to it, I would recommend practical/applied physics so you can get a job testing weapons for the army.

As the target? :ebil:

Thief13x on 23/8/2007 at 01:46

Tight or not on money, you have to take basically the same base courses for the two majors...so quite honestly you actually have about 2 years to make this decision before you start "wasting" money.

Have you considered a dual major? a minor? I thought I wanted to be an Aerospace Engineer....I never thought I would have switched my major to computer science when I entered college 2 years ago... I don't think it's worth rushing a decision on an investment like college.

I also wanted to be an airline pilot for almost as long as I can remmember, and in recent years, especially as I am drawing only months away from getting my commercial license, I am starting to realize that I want, just a little more, job security, a stable family life, and not having to constantly worry about getting furloughed, or having the stress of constantly being evaluated as you work by somone who has the power to revoke years of work and tens of thousands of dollars.

That said, reading this thread is one of the most ironic things that has happened to me in a while. I was just at my freind's apartment earlier (a physics major junior) who just changed his major from Physics to Electrical Engineering...go figure

Just remember, the only constant in life is change....and that calculus sucks:P

37637598 on 23/8/2007 at 02:09

Quote Posted by Thief13x

*Above post*

Well many things are actually directing me more and more twards electronic courses, but like I said, I do have the next year or two to make the decision. I just need think of all the possibilities and decide what I REALLY want to be doing with my life.

Silkworm on 24/8/2007 at 19:58

In general, Engineering is fundamentally more fun, rewarding, challenging, and profitable than Research in most fields, including Biology. But in the real world they overlap quite a bit and decisions are tough.