Why learning physics is important?

It is fair to assume that most of the school kids would agree that physics is one among the most difficult subjects. Indeed, many students find it difficult to even define physics, let alone grasp the subtleties of all the formulas made up of strange looking symbols.

Physics is the science that attempts to describe how nature works using the language of mathematics. It is often considered the most fundamental of all the sciences encompassing the study of the universe from the largest galaxies to the smallest subatomic particles; from the prosaic to the profound.

Perhaps it is the general lack of understanding of what physics is, combined with the subject’s inherent difficulty and reliance on mathematics scares off many students. But it is precisely one of the most important reasons why you should study physics! It requires us to master many concepts and skills that make training in physics so valuable. Learning Physics equips the children with quantitative and analytic skills needed for problem solving in the sciences, engineering and medicine, as well as in economics, finance, management and law. Physics students have the ability to synthesize and analyze large quantities of data and present their analysis in an easily understandable form. When faced with a particular problem they are taught to systematically identify all factors contributing to the problem and work out how those factors interact in order to solve the problem. These are valuable skills that can be applied in a range of careers. Doctors who don’t understand physics can be dangerous. Medicine without physics technology would be barbaric. Schools without qualified physics teachers cut their students off from a host of well-respected, well paying careers. You can't become an engineer or a doctor without physics; your video games will be boring and your animated movies won’t look realistic; and your judgments about social issues will be less than compelling. An increasing number of employers are starting to realize this fact and are looking to hire physics graduates.

If a student doesn’t understand what physics is they are unlikely to grasp the relevance of physics to society, and more importantly the relevance of physics to them. It is clearly important that students need to know why physics is important and what careers or other benefits may stem from studying physics.

On a less tangible level physical theories have allowed us to obtain a greater grasp of the universe we live in. It is the theories of physics that provide us with some of our deepest notions of space, time, matter and energy. Physical theories allow us to conceptualize the workings of the building blocks of all matter. These are things we would never be able to experience in everyday life. At the other extreme the theories of cosmology tell us how the Universe began and how it could possibly end. Again this is an example of physics going beyond the limits of our experience to describe the space we live in.

The study of physics in schools and universities is undoubtedly relevant to society today.

Perhaps the greatest skill a physics student develops is a sense of wonder about how things work. We are living in a technologically advanced age in which the average person relies on technology without understanding how that technology works. How many of us have looked at a memory card, and wondered how it can contain so many heavy data and films? Who has held a smartwatch and thought about how so many songs and operations that track us can be squeezed into a tiny space? Physics teaches us a method of systematic thinking and also the theories necessary to allow us to once again understand how the things we rely on actually work.

There is no denying that physics is a difficult subject to study at high school. With the pressure many students feel to produce good grades it is understandable that many students will simply choose less challenging subjects at school. However it is important to remember that studying physics also has great rewards. For those with an ambition to be at the forefront of developing technologies and theories that describe our reality it is necessary to study physics at school and beyond. For students with ambitions in other areas such as business management or finance the study of physics during senior school is also important even if those students don’t intend to study physics or science at university. It demands respect from many employers and university administration officers as it provides students with excellent analytical, problem solving and quantitative skills.

.

Ganesh
A passionate physics teacher.