and larissa left the class too! :(

ahh well perhaps physics wasn't for you ppl.

I recalled that from sec 1 to sec 2 i didn't like physics nor math. The textbook simply made me sleep, and at that point I decided that I'd focus on bio and chem. Physics was totally out of the picture then, because the ideas were plain common sense, yet when I had to do a question it just didn't seem doable.

I suppose I'll have to thank Yuxian, for making physics fun for me. I recalled that he showed us various examples of how physics can help us solve problems that seem difficult, yet are simple to do, using very fundamental ideas like conservation of energy. The equations didn't make sense yet, but there was this thrill that surged through me as I thought more and more about how physics is able to make the things that didn't make sense just fit all nicely! Why do things work this way? Why is it that certain actions require more force, why you move certain way in the bus when certain things happen etc. Common sense was able to answer in what way you would move, but by how much? What can you do? Physics is able to predict many of the things that happen.

However, despite having those equations where you sub in variables that fit in nicely, those are still not enough to account for many of the things that occur, especially those where the dependent variable changes with the independent variable. Those problems required the solving of differential equations, which for a sec 3 student was pretty bomb. So i studied some math. Math was a tool for physics. I quote Mr. Wee, "Math gives physics the power, while physics give math the meaning." So its kinda like xiang1 fu3 xiang1 cheng2.

Later as I dwelt into the topic of religion, I had to go into the fundamentals of religion, and the fundamentals of science, which brought me to the idea that no! Physics theories do not predict things! The observed behaviour of thigns give rise to physics theories, which are then checked for consistency with the physical world! No wonder physics equations work!

Although that aspect makes physics seem less powerful than I thought it to be, by then I learnt more math (introductory calculus from Mrs Chan, solving differential equations by seperation of variables from Mr. Chandru) to make more out of Newton's second law (which, as you can read from "fundamentals of physics", can be used to derive many many things). Physics now seems pretty fun.

Some of the excitement comes from solving a real-world problem yourself, then verifying with the real world to see if it is right. Of course, my level is so low that someone else would probably have derived it, so why bother? Well... to me that is fun. You know that you may not be the best in the world in a certain game, but you do feel a sense of achievement when you manage to do something that seems difficult. Even though others can do it too, the fun doesn't come from the idea of your high score being high, or being better than others, but the kick from playing the game itself. Some computer games don't look fun (e.g. Utopia, Simcountry, Quest for Yap), but they can be fun once you get the hang of it, even if it doesn't serve any purpose. Perhaps, it would be fun after you get the hang of physics too!

I don't like bio as much, because while it has the same drawbacks as physics in that the theories must be verified against real life scenarios, it doesn't seem to have the same amount of power of predictability. There seems to be just too many variables to deal with to arrive at a quantitative answer.

To emphasize my point, that in a particular case the body acts such that more of chemical A is produced, yet at the same time something else happens such that less of chemical A is produced. So does the amount of chemical A in the body increase or decrease? Perhaps the answer is obtained empirically and qualitatively, such that you realise that perhaps the first event is a more important consideration, and the amount of chemical A produced increases. It is not a precise prediction that answers the question "by how much?".

Yet in physics, the opposing forces in a system can each be precisely determined, and the resulting force is simply a vector sum of the two opposing forces, such that you don't only know whether the object moves left or right, but also "by how much".

To be frank, my preference for physics is very much a personal thing. Perhaps people cannot comprehend why I like physics, just like I cannot comprehend why other people may like bio. I guess we are different after all.

On a brighter note, both shin jung and yunlin are in our KI class! Shin Jung seems quite outspoken. I look forward to hearing from her during class.