On my birthday, I studied physics all day.

I woke up around 8, got ready and went to calculus. I didn t pay attention to calculus though; I decided to devote my academics for the day entirely to physics because I had a test the next day. After calculus, I came back to my dorm and finished the 2005 exam, and did most of the 2006 exam. Then I went to physics class for the review he was doing. After that I sat through chemistry class, and then EF 105. When I got back to my dorm, I finished the 2006 exam, and then I did a packet of review problems that the professor gave us. After that, I went to eat dinner real quick in the pizza hut/chik-fil-a place. After dinner, I went to Morgan s room to study physics with her. We went over a lot of problems that we were having trouble with. Then, I took my first break of the day and went to watch Heroes. As soon as Heroes was over, I went to the library and did the 2007 exam by myself. I went over every problem on every test again to make sure I understood everything. I made my formula sheet very thoroughly, putting every formula that was used on any of the problems that I had done. I got back to my room and went to sleep around 2. Fun birthday.

I got slightly over 8 hours of sleep that night, and ate breakfast the next morning. I was as prepared for that test as I could possibly have been. I did everything I could to study for it (I studied a lot of other days, not just my birthday as I described), and I slept a lot and ate breakfast before it. I even felt really prepared. After the test however, I expect that I failed it.

Now I have to explain it.

From the BBC:

What do you get if you divide science by God?

A prize-winning quantum physicist says a spiritual reality is veiled from us, and science offers a glimpse behind that veil. So how do scientists investigating the fundamental nature of the universe assess any role of God, asks Mark Vernon.

The Templeton Prize, awarded for contributions to "affirming life's spiritual dimension", has been won by French physicist Bernard d'Espagnat, who has worked on quantum physics with some of the most famous names in modern science.

Quantum physics is a hugely successful theory: the predictions it makes about the behaviour of subatomic particles are extraordinarily accurate. And yet, it raises profound puzzles about reality that remain as yet to be understood.

WHAT IS QUANTUM PHYSICS? Originated in work conducted by Max Planck and Albert Einstein at start of 20th Century They discovered that light comes in discrete packets, or quanta, which we call photons The Heisenberg Uncertainty principle says certain features of subatomic particles like momentum and position cannot be known precisely at the same time Gaps remain, like attempts to find the 'God Particle' that scientists hope to spot in the Large Hadron Collider. It is required to give other particles mass

The bizarre nature of quantum physics has attracted some speculations that are wacky but the theory suggests to some serious scientists that reality, at its most basic, is perfectly compatible with what might be called a spiritual view of things.

Some suggest that observers play a key part in determining the nature of things. Legendary physicist John Wheeler said the cosmos "has not really happened, it is not a phenomenon, until it has been observed to happen."

D'Espagnat worked with Wheeler, though he himself reckons quantum theory suggests something different. For him, quantum physics shows us that reality is ultimately "veiled" from us.

SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7955846.stm

I took my last two finals for this semester yesterday. I probably made less than a 50 on my calculus final, and I probably made in the 60s on my physics final. I studied as much as I could have for them, but I was still inadequate. This semester is over.

The first part of this semester was the least enjoyable time of my life. I had never made anything besides a B, and all of a sudden I was failing calculus tests and making C s on physics tests. I couldn t really handle how much better than me everyone was academically. I had always been the best. These were subjects that I thought I loved, but those classes made me think I hated them. I felt like I was terrible at everything and my whole life had been inaccurately causing me to believe that I was smart. I studied as much as I possibly could for physics tests, and I still couldn t do better than a 74. I memorized everything, I went over old tests, I read the book, I worked in groups, I went to office hours, I devoted all of my time to academics, and I still failed every calculus test.

That was the most discouraging thing that has ever happened to me. I switched out of engineering. I dropped all of my honors classes for next semester besides chemistry.

Towards the end of the semester, I started realizing how much I like Morgan and I spent more time with her outside of schoolwork. She helps make college not so bad. I still did terrible at everything, but at least I really liked my girlfriend.

Now that those classes are over, I feel like I can try to get back to normal. It s raining right now. I m just sitting in my dorm. Morgan just went home. I m about to pack my stuff and go pick up Ashley from school.

My dorm feels like my home. I feel like I m about to go somewhere strange for the next few weeks. I ve done so much homework in this room. I ve spent so much time in here. Morgan has been here so many times. Troy and I watched Heroes every Monday. I used to take naps everyday when I thought my life was terrible. I tried to put lots of pictures all over the walls. I vacuumed twice and then let it get disgusting. It was really hot in here for a couple weeks at the beginning of November. I m going to miss being here, I m going to miss Morgan, and I m going to miss going to the cafeteria and getting little pizzas for the next few weeks.

I feel like I m overestimating how long I m going to be gone; it s just three weeks. This semester has just been so intense that it makes me feel like I ve been here for years and leaving for three weeks is like leaving forever.

Remember how bad those paper physics problems were? Remember sitting on Morgan s futon not knowing how to do anything? Remember being completely dependent on other people for how to do everything? Remember having your academic confidence completely broken? Remember working on that car project for over ten hours and then watching it go about four feet and bounce back? Remember just copying Morgan s homework most of the time because you couldn t even figure out how to start it yourself? Remember waking up at 8 sometimes and then doing academics until 3 or 4 in the morning? Remember crying about it at home in your bed? Remember how some people said that honors physics was "a joke" but you thought it was the hardest thing you d ever done? Remember how bad this semester was? Don t belittle.

To be different than my normal posts, and prove there's more to me than a horny god-freak, this'll be a physics one!
Gravity has been hard to link in with other theories, I think because it involves mass, and mass is known to slow down relative time so I think you have at least 2 factors making things complicated and contributing to the same overall force.

In a black hole, you have at the singularity an infinite density of mass (not infinite amount, but density), there, time stops completely, because that's the only reason something like light cannot escape - light has no mass, so in theory it shouldn't be affected by gravity in the classical sense, so in theory if time didn't stop at the singularity light would either pass through or reflect from, or emit from a black hole as if it was a planet.

And there has been a theory that gravity is just the effect of how time is distorted in the direction towards the mass, which (by ways I don't understand because I can't imagine 4d spacetime) causes us to be attracted to the mass.

But I don't think gravity can only be one effect, I don't think the effect of distorting spacetime is strong enough by itself to explain how planets of low mass, like ours, manage to hold onto as much as they do - the distortion of time by relativity is a weak effect, so I think there's also a field affect (similar to magnetism) - that happens between mass, in addition to the established attraction we have to mass because of distorted time.

If mass can be represented as being like a sort of spin (as other things can be) - perhaps it can couple to other spins? That would make it like magnetism, which is the overall attraction you get because large scale coupling of the spin of many atomic nuclei in magnetism causes a large energy difference, which is what causes the attraction/repulsion. Coupling is known to vary with distance, like gravity, and better yet, it's not totally smooth classical physics (like field effects used to be thought to be) - it depends on the number of things you have spinning and how they couple - very on+off - perhaps gravity is the same? - not a smooth classical attraction but one that depends on the number of units of mass you have that can couple. (mass is quantized)