We all have some favourite and some not so favourite subjects during student life. Some subjects feel like a burden and others feel like a pleasant breeze. For instance, for many of us drawing is just too interesting and easy, but for some, it’s a nightmare. Similarly, many kids feel maths is a mountain that they have to climb without having food and water, but to many, it’s a piece of cake.

So showing favouritism towards some subjects is a common thing. Let’s come to the point. Do you like the subject physics or do you dislike it? If you are among the later ones, I know there are many reasons for disliking it. Some students take it as the driest and dullest subject, as all it has are a bunch of hard concepts to grasp and numerical problems to solve. So how could there be something even remotely interesting in it?

Well friends, having these thoughts is also normal, because I used to think in the same way. However, after going through it in detail and depth, I realised a lot about physics and now it has become my favourite subject and I just love reading everything about it. In this article, I hope to change your perspective on physics, or at least expose you to its fun side.

Firstly, what is physics? Are you trying to recall its definition that you have read in the textbook? Stop thinking further ... in my opinion, physics is an endeavour to explain literally everything in this universe. For instance, “Why do some objects float and others don’t?” This was the thought that led Archimedes to understand the concept of upthrust.

“Why did the apple fall on the ground and not go up?” Newton wondered and later developed the concept of gravity. Other great physicists too had questions which they eventually solved and today we have answers to many of the complex things happening daily in our lives. Thus, this curiosity is the birthplace of physics.

So approaching physics with a curious mind solves problems and also opens new vistas to the understanding of the universe. When idly sitting or commuting from one place to the other, just set your mind free and wonder “Why do magnets attract each other? How is electricity produced? Why do heavy objects fall faster to the ground than the light ones?” or “Why is rainbow the way it is?”

Students are really not helping themselves when they stop trying to understand a subject if they find it difficult and start to just rote learn it. My advice to those students will be to give the difficult concepts of physics their full attention first in the class and then when learning it themselves. Then turn to relate the concepts to things and examples around them to understand them better. Even though this method may take more time, in the long run, you will understand and remember it better, without the need to re-learn the topic every time you open it. You will be amazed to know how everything around us is related to the concepts of physics and offer perfect explanations.

So, when next time you’re reading, say about forces, ask yourself these questions, “Do I really understand what I’ve just read? What is the essence of this topic? Can I explain it to a small child in simple words?” — then try to answer these questions. Give this method a try, friends. Who knows, maybe you’ll end up developing a liking to physics — just like I did.

Richard Feynman, a theoretical physicist said: “Physics is the most fundamental and all-inclusive of the sciences, and has had a profound effect on all scientific development. In fact, physics is the present-day equivalent of what used to be called natural philosophy, from which most of our modern sciences arose.”

I am hopeful that this article may have developed your interest in physics, or at least softened your perspective on it. Physics is more intuitive than you can imagine — have fun with it and understand the universe around you!

Published in Dawn, Young World, August 20th, 2022