Physics learning benefits

This page lists benefits of learning the subject physics. In other words, it tries to answer the question Why should I learn physics? |See all pages on the benefits of learning specific subjects

Learning physics confers a number of benefits. The magnitude of benefits depends on what parts of physics the person learns, the depth to which the person learns the material, and the person's life goals.

Physics knowledge in day-to-day life

Physics, up to and including Advanced Placement Physics (or equivalent counterparts, which could be late high school and early college physics), helps provide intuition as to the working of real-world objects and appliances and gadgets. These benefits, however, are quite marginal. Specifically, there are two aspects to this:

• What matters in day-to-day life is a conceptual understanding of physics ideas, which may not be adequately emphasized in coursework. For instance, we feel acceleration, not velocity is an important corollary of the Newtonian mechanics framework, but it may not stand out to people who have taken physics coursework. Research based on the Force Concept Inventory suggests that people do not learn basic concepts well in college physics classes.
• The conceptual understanding of physics ideas only provides a small advantage in terms of the amount of time needed to initially pick up the details of specific real-world systems and appliances, and does not seem to be related to how much mastery one can eventually attain. A Newtonian intuition in mechanics might make it somewhat easier to pick up some driving-related ideas, but somebody who lacks the Newtonian intuition in general can still master the ideas through conscious effort and practice. (It's probably good that people don't need to have a knowledge of physics to drive well -- if they did, then there would be a lot more car accidents).

Below are some areas of physics along with the extent to which they are relevant in understanding the world around us: