[HN Gopher] Applications of Classical Physics
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Applications of Classical Physics
Author : nill0
Score : 63 points
Date : 2025-05-11 17:28 UTC (5 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (pmaweb.caltech.edu)
(TXT) w3m dump (pmaweb.caltech.edu)
| octed wrote:
| For those who would like a print version, this manuscript
| eventually got published as _Modern Classical Physics_
| https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691159027/mo...
| mhh__ wrote:
| I was weighing up (...) buying a copy of this the other day, in
| a physical bookshop. The thing was so big I couldn't actually
| buy it.
| kurthr wrote:
| There has always been commentary that the size (over 1300
| pages) of the General Rel book _Gravitation by Meisner Thorne
| and Wheeler_ was done for demonstration purposes. Apparently,
| modern versions are only 2.5 " thick which leads me to
| believe they must be on incredibly thin paper. I remember it
| being about 4-5".
|
| https://www.amazon.com/Gravitation-Charles-W-
| Misner/dp/06911...
|
| Maybe tome size a Kip thing?
| cshimmin wrote:
| Interesting that they changed the author order to put Kip
| Thorne first... marketing?
| xqcgrek2 wrote:
| For an idea of how far the average US physics education has been
| dumbed-down in the past three decades, I doubt a 3rd year US-
| educated physics graduate student could pass a test on any of the
| chapters.
| slyfox125 wrote:
| We are victims of our success.
| TimorousBestie wrote:
| I don't think this is very accurate. Classical fluid dynamics
| is a dying art, yes, but classical mechanics and
| electromagnetics are still a huge part of the curriculum.
| kurthr wrote:
| With or without a LLM "partner"?
| momoschili wrote:
| The vast majority of US grad students already pass tests on
| chapters 1-9 (the ones that are taught) before they even begin
| their "true" graduate career (aka their "masters"). Most
| graduate E&M (Jackson) and Thermo/Stat (Landau) mech classes
| cover their individual topics to an even greater level of
| detail than these materials.
|
| As for the uncovered subjects, it turns out quantum mechanics
| occupies a large space of the "new physics" that graduate
| students are trained to do.
|
| There are definitely an incredible amount of utility and
| knowledge to be gained from the classical field theories, and
| obviously many outstanding and new problems that I think need
| more attention as well. At the same time let's not understate
| the utility of quantum mechanics that most grad students are
| specializing in.
|
| You are speaking out of turn.
| xqcgrek2 wrote:
| sounds like you haven't visited a top-ranked physics
| department in a while
| dawnofdusk wrote:
| Not really dumbed down, just that it prioritizes quantum
| physics instead of classical. One can debate whether this is a
| good set of priorities but it's flippant to say a curriculum
| focused on quantum mechanics is dumber than one focused on
| fluids and elasticity/continuum mechanics.
| srean wrote:
| I will probably date myself with this comment, but in my
| highschool days there used to be this TV series called the
| Mechanical Universe produced by Caltech. It was so fantastically
| good, perhaps peak pedagogy for its time.
|
| https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8_xPU5epJddRABXqJ5h5G0dk...
| zokier wrote:
| Interesting that relativity is included here; to me it's one of
| the main things separating modern physics from classical.
| matheist wrote:
| I think in modern physics "classical" often means "not
| quantum", rather than "pre-modern".
| dawnofdusk wrote:
| Typically non-relativistic and non-quantum is called
| "Newtonian". Classical is just for anything which is not
| quantized, and so far no one knows how to quantize general
| relativity.
| momoschili wrote:
| I just looked through the diffraction chapter and some chapters
| I'm much less familiar with. This is an incredible ~graduate
| level text for these subjects. I've been looking for something
| like this for a while! Thanks!
| reader9274 wrote:
| Skimmed through chapter 1. That sounds like the way I was taught
| this subject in high school, nothing revolutionary. Not sure why
| they're talking so much about its brilliance
| dawnofdusk wrote:
| You learned about stress tensors and PDEs in high school?
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