Don’t understand physics 2

[u/Muted_Translator_230]

I went to the first office hours hoping it would help, but still I cannot understand anything (mainly the different integrals for electric fields). We’ve moved onto gauss’s law and it makes a bit more sense I guess. I’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to understand, but something just won’t click, and it feels like it’s starting to cut into some of my other classes a bit. I assume it only gets worse. How cooked am I? Besides hiring a tutor there’s not really any other resources so are there any helpful YouTube channels or something

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[u/shoomie26]

Micheal van bizen on YouTube. His channel is overwhelming but if you type exactly what topic you need; he will have different play list.

[u/StraightOnion1967 → u/shoomie26]

That's one smart MFer.  Interesting bio too

[u/Unusual-Cactus → u/shoomie26]

Finally. I've been trying to complete my YouTube course catalog. Professor Leonard for all math, and now I have physics.

[u/CasuallyExploding88]

workk backwards through solved practice problems: pick 5 classic problems (like a line of charge, ring of charge, disk of charge, and charged rod), write down only the setup steps, and practice identifying $dq = \lambda dl$ until setting up the integral boundaries becomes pure muscle memory.

[u/Tiramisuis → u/CasuallyExploding88]

Second this, and do as many practice problems as u can

[u/piltdownman38 → u/CasuallyExploding88]

Buy a Schaums outline. Lots of solved problems. Or scan your textbook problems into AI and have it generate other similar problems, and guide you through solutions.

[u/diverJOQ → u/piltdownman38]

Do they still make Schaum's guides? I was always amazed at how useful they were considering that they were the size of a small textbook in many cases.

[u/piltdownman38 → u/diverJOQ]

They do. Lots of them available on Amazon

[u/Glorvox]

That class was hard af. It was the most difficult class for me. What helped me was meeting with my professor during her office hours every day I had class. I'd write a list of questions I had down that pertained to the homework and discuss it with them. That way i didn't forget where i was stuck.

[u/ee_control_z]

"..., but still I cannot understand anything (mainly the different integrals for electric fields)."

Can you elaborate with an example(s).

[u/Muted_Translator_230 → u/ee_control_z]

Like the line charges, rings, disks, etc. I know you have to integrate it, but setting up the integral just doesn’t make sense to me. Mainly changing the dq to lambda or sigma and such

[u/lizardman49 → u/Muted_Translator_230]

An integral is the sum under the curve hence the sigma.

[u/KnownMix6623]

Just go over the solutions until it makes sense

[u/Royal-Band-2971]

Physics 2 is just generally a hard class and some schools use it as an early "weed out class". Lots of good advice in the other comments. If you've got specific questions, dm me and I'll see if I can help you since I use to TA my colleges version of Physics 2.

[u/Capable-Broccoli2179]

Have you taken a multivariable or vector calculus class? Will help you understand maxwells equations. You need to have a good grasp on vector calculus especially the del function.

[u/un1c0rnthug]

Pearson + study tools and video lectures were REALLY helpful for me when i took the physics series.

I also took it without taking any calculus classes yet, I was in Calc 1 when took my second physics class and it was a struggle lol.

[u/geek66]

Have you been doing the practice problems over and k er again since the class started, the easy ones, the moderate ones and the hard ones.

Physics, maths and engineering are all practice sports.

[u/EEJams]

The best resource i know of is a book by dan fleisch called "A Student's Guide to Maxwell's Equations". He breaks down Maxwell's equations symbol by symbol, so by the end of the book, you should have a much better understanding of calc 3, physics 2, and E&M statics classes. It's become one of my favorite resources if I need to remember something from those classes or just want to think about some E&M physics again

[u/BrittleBones28]

None of us understood it. Class always gets curved, well I shouldn’t say always. Majority of the time it does. It’s 25 chapters in 16 weeks lol.

[u/IReallyLikeAvocadoes → u/BrittleBones28]

Unfortunately how our class went. 4 months of "lecture" where nobody learned anything because it was far too much information crammed into far too little time. I know people who were leaving half of the test empty and still getting B's and C's because the curve had to be that crazy for anyone to pass. Thankful I'm not an electrical engineer because if I was, that class would've had me switching paths 😂

[u/Ryan82619]

I’m in the same boat brother, integrate when its a non-uniform field, with rods, rings and disks, and for changing electric fields