The Feynman Challenge

Self-Studying The Feynman Lectures on Physics.

The objective is to go through each chapter starting with: Volume 1: Mainly Mechanics, Radiation, and Heat. Then Volume 2: Mainly Electromagnetism and Matter. Finally, Volume 3: Quantum Mechanics.

After each chapter, I aim to complete the respective exercises within the Exercises for the Feynman Lectures on Physics to apply my knowledge to problems critically.

Discussions will be held with fellow autodidacts within our discord server :D https://discord.gg/YjY9JC2j9j (You get roles for each of the chapters you complete :^)

Exercise Solutions

Sigil's Learning Log

• August 1st, 2023: Amazon Prime Delivered The Feynman Lectures on Physics Volume 1: Mainly Mechanics, Radiation, and Heat and the Exercises for the Feynman Lectures on Physics

• August 3rd, 2023 (4:06 AM): Finished Annotating Chapter 1: Atoms in Motion

• August 4th, 2023 (4:12 PM): Finished Annotating Chapter 2: Basic Physics

  • I was reading Max Tegmark's Our Mathematical Universe last night and I wrote the question: "Why don't electrons get sucked into the nuclei?"

    • I found Feynman's explanation: "If they were in the nucleus, we would know their position precisely, and the uncertainty principle would then require that they have a very large (but uncertain) principle. With this energy, they would break away from the nucleus"

  • This chapter introduces Quantum Electrodynamics - Quantum mechanically correct Electromagnetism (light, radio, electrical disturbance, and X-rays are all particles/waves with different frequencies in oscillation)

  • But Quantum Electrodynamics explains all ordinary phenomena except for gravitation and nuclear processes, which gives rise to Quantum Mechanics that introduces a whole suite of new particles (mesons, pions, muons, gravitons, leptons) and interactions (beta-decay, electrical, nuclear force, gravity) that I have not learned much about before (other than mentions in Futurama episodes :^)

  • We are very much familiar with all the physics outside the nucleus, but inside is where quantum mechanics applies and a lot of interactions between the 30 new particles are still unknown

• August 4th, 2023 (11:53 PM): Finished Annotating Chapter 3: The Relation of Physics to Other Sciences

  • Light chapter connecting physics w/ chemistry, biology, astrology, etc. with little gold nuggets of Feynman philosophy and humor :D

• August 5th, 2023 (6:09 PM): Finished Annotating Chapter 4: Conservation of Energy

  • Questions I have:
    • Is the energy in the universe fixed?
    • Since energy is radiated in all directions (1/2 billionth of the photons from the sun hits the earth), most other goes into deep space, and considering 1. The universe has fixed energy + 2. It is expanding; does that mean that over time, the mass in the universe will eventually be converted to electromagnetic radiation eternally dissipating through the empty infinite universe?

• August 6th, 2023 (2:30 PM): Finished Annotating Chapter 5: Time and Distance

  • Carbon Dating and Uranium Dating, how to measure the moon, stars, galaxies, atoms, nuclei - this chapter is quite similar to the first chapters of Max Tegmark's Our Mathematical Universe.
  • I find it fascinating just how brief a π^0-meason lasts: 10^-16 seconds, yet the strange resonances (particles) last only 10^-24 before disintigrating. That is a 10^8 difference or 100,000,000 ! Literally last instantaneously but one last significiantly less than the other.

• August 7th, 2023 (11:50 PM): Finished Annotating Chapter 6: Probability

  • Got nerdsniped (and nerdsniped a bunch of other kiddos) into a Tennis ball graviation problem I came up with

• Mid August: SF Trip - hiring + birthday :) Reading Tegmark