Observer

Has anyone heard about the new solar low? I am doing a presentation on it. I guess the sun goes through 11 year cycles (11 of high solar activity and 11 of low) But right now it has reached a new low. So this means the heliosphere, which protects us from interstellar space, does not extend as far as normal. What does this mean for us? The article I'm reading only says that it will make space exploration more dangerous. How? I guess what I'm looking for is a specific reason it would be more dangerous. Thanks!

I have been struggling with a major choice for years now. I love physics with a passion and orriginally wanted to make that my major focus. I got through calc I, II, and III, dif.e.q., and general physics, but each successive semester Im becoming even more disinterested and overwhelmed with the math. (I got a B in calc, C in calc 2, D in calc 3..) Still I love the physics. So I found geophysics and seismology-volcanism and I can really picture myself in that career. Problem arises because I would like to go for my masters in geophysics so I can eventually teach at highschool or college level. Would this qualifiy me for teaching physics? Or would I be stuck in geology? Would minoring in physics not only widen my possibilities for jobs but also allow me to teach eventually? Thanks

well magneseum burns white.

We talked about this in an ethics class. (Ok so what right). But the question so of struck me as a philosophical question when I first read it. I suppose you can say it is and is not an illusion based on who you ask. One perspective is that time can be measured, in minutes, seconds, days, years, so it can not be an illusion. Yet in my Sociology class we talked about how every choice is made for us. So someone came up with the idea of measuring time, and everyone decided to follow. That is one person's perspective of time, that everyone else adapted to. The ethical perspective: Really, we are only living in the very moment we are in right now. The past is not time, it was time. It already happend. The future is not time, because it has not happened yet. Who is to say that time will not just stop in the very next moment? That the end of everything will not be that next moment. Alright stop me if I'm getting confusing....That's what I get for not sticking to my roots in science though. Still I have to go with my clear cut science methods, time is NOT an illusion. Maybe how its thought of and measured is, but for such an abstract idea, we need something consistant to view time as.

Ok that really helps. I just wasn't sure if there was some branch off major from Physics, like there is with chemisty and biology (biochemistry for example). So I would just major in Physics and specialize in graduate school. Makes sense. And I'm happy to hear there are many jobs out there for physics majors. I was told that the only things I could do with it were teach or research. I like to know I have options.

Let me give this a shot. Im young too and maybe can put it into better words for cmac.?? From what I gather from all the reading, the question of the "edge" of the universe is still unclear. This is probably a bad analogy, but take a baloon for example. Starts off small and gets "infinatly" bigger as air is added. It does not necessarily have a center because it is not expanding from one particular point. It is just expanding. And remember that a balloon can be any shape, not just a sphere. It all made a lot more sense to me after watching the Big Bang Video on the YouTube link. So try that if you have not. And also, I read this in one of the earlier posts, the universe is expanding in 4D??, so as time goes on, that is what is making the universe bigger (well dark energy is what is making it expand i think, but that is a different topic) So as time passes, the universe gets bigger, just like your ears get bigger as you age. ha. And I think cmac is still trying to understand the whole light concept. Yes light can only travel at the speed of light. So there are things beyond our visibility, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. And noone is saying that there isn't. Ok, if any of that is wrong, or if this makes absolutely no sense. Please don't hesistate to correct it. Im just taking a stabe at it based on what I've read here and on links, and some previous knowledge.

I'm currently a freshman in a community college and I am struggling to figure out my major. I put off going to a four-year univeristy because I do not want to waste time or money figuring out I need to be somewhere else. In high school I did really well, and enjoyed, Physics, and I already had 10 credits in physics before college. I just do not see myself in a lab all day every day studying Classical Physics. I tried engineering, but that doesn't quite fit either. Wave/Light and Theoretical Physics REALLY interest me though. One thing I've always thought would be cool is to live in ancient Rome or Greece because there were still new things to discover. The more I read about Theroetical Physics in the forums, the more I think it is right for me. So I have a few questions. 1.Would my major be as simple as a Physics major? If not, then what? 2.What is a good University to study that major? (Preferably in Illinois or within a a few hours of Chicago-land, but I'm not going to be picky!! Anywhere is fine.) 3.What kind of jobs are there for this kind of work? Thank you.