Brain-Fried and Coping with it?

[YT2095]

I`ve decided to Bite-The-Bullet and go a Little further with my Chem studies, in particular the parts that involve Physics (Thermodynamics specificaly).

 

I`ve got more questions than answers, I keep having to read the same stuff over and over again to try make sense of all the symbols and formula I`m totaly sick of Delta this that and the other:-(

 

In effect I`m totaly brain fried at the moment.

 

I`m sure I`m not the only one to have experienced this, how did YOU manage this and cope with it?

 

my only real drive is that I want to know more, was this enough for YOU also?

 

I must admit, unlike much on my knowledge, THIS is NOT comming easily to me, I can`t even say it`s being explained badly as it`s from a Text Book, and so it can`t be.

 

any advice/help?

 

 

edit: also, does anyone else kinda sit there after a Brain-Fry session and beat themselves up for not understanding it 1`st 2`nd or 3`rd time even, like no matter what, you kinda realise you`re just Thick in the head!

[Phi for All]

I've always believed a big part of learning right is being taught right. Some teachers (or books) are great for most people on certain subjects but sometimes you just need a different approach, a different teacher or a different text.

 

The second time I took college Calculus was light years different from the first time. The first teacher I had just didn't connect with me and I dropped her course. I wanted to learn Calculus and she kept trying to teach me Greek.

[YT2095]

that`s a bit how I feel, it`s all symbols and stuff that don`t make sense in the REAL world, I have an aversion anyway to that sort of thing and I know the source (goes way back to early childhood), but I even try altering my mindset and try to look at it as Code Breaking or Hacking for example, but I still loose track and have to go back to the start again

I hope I`m not Past-It or something like that

 

Delta V at least makes sense as the V = Volume Delta H for Heat.

 

the others have nothing to memorise them by, and not only that, byt WHY Delta anything? what is Delta????

 

there`s nothing for my mind to grab onto here, no REAL LIFE commonality, I simply cannot Connect to it, and I want to

[insane_alien]

delta stands for the change in a value or the rate of change if its in differentiation. delta T stands for the change in temperature. its basically short hand for writing Tfinal-Tinitial. its hard to pick up at first but once it clicks then it will be easy enough.

[Phi for All]

that`s a bit how I feel' date=' it`s all symbols and stuff that don`t make sense in the REAL world, I have an aversion anyway to that sort of thing and I know the source (goes way back to early childhood), but I even try altering my mindset and try to look at it as Code Breaking or Hacking for example, but I still loose track and have to go back to the start again

I hope I`m not Past-It or something like that [/quote']You're not "past it", but you see exactly what the problem is. You so far have been unable to apply it in a way that gives you meaning and direction. You still don't "own" the material. Believe me, once you find that correlation you'll be off and running, screaming, "Eureka!"

 

I don't use the Calculus anymore but I still remember a bit of the Greek.

[YT2095]

and Delta, G, U, and S etc...

 

basicly all I gleaned from an entire afternoons study was that an Exothermic reaction decreases entropy and the opposite for Endothermic, except for outside the system then the opposite is true *sigh*

 

any tips for getting around this sort of Blocker (that`s what it feels like)?

 

Phi: funny you should say that, I actualy did my Happy Dance around the Lab when I found out exactly how electron figuration applied to the PTOE

in fact I couldn`t even sleep that night!

[Phi for All]

History always interested me but it took James Burke tying bits and pieces together to show correlation to really set me on fire about it. Similarly, much of science takes on a special texture for me when it's applied to the way my life really is.

 

I just reminded myself of something. I live now in the city where I spent much of my childhood (not by design really, just where the best school for my daughter was). Two different locations where many childhood recollections happened were revealed to me in a new light last year when the city punched a connecting road through. Growing up I hadn't realized how close together the two different sites were. It was a real epiphany and made me feel stupid for not realizing it back then. I could have easily joined together two sets of friends and *really* had a great time.

[husmusen]

Yeah YT, been there done that,

 

1) Coffee.

 

2) Playing music.

 

3) Stop what you are doing and just play for an hour.

 

4) If it's a fine day, go for a bikeride.

 

Works for me at least.

 

Husmusen

 

P.S.

As for texts I found they made a huge difference.

Some texts are superb, some really suck. More often one is superb for one bit and the other superb at explaining somethign else.

[Rocket Man]

when i try to learn anything at all, i try to apply the formulae to mental pictures/diagrams ect,

for the equations, sketch a mental graph.

for everything else, try to look at the really small scale, particle interactions ect.

 

if you do that, you can recreate the equations on demand, its what i do, i come very close to the top of my classes and get hated for the low effort i put in.

 

invariably theres a small key missing, you'll need to work it out, if something describes a small difference, envisage a huge one or one that should exaggerate the results.

by far, the most important thing is sleep and breaks. you can get seriously bogged on a simple misconception, take a step back, consider different approaches or leave it to settle out of your immediate thoughts. when you get back you'll probably see it in a different light and realise what the book is on about.

other than that, just try to apply it. i've practically developed that into a habit, think of a scenario, no matter how small, and reproduce the effect. thought experiments.

[YT2095]

Thnx each, some good ideas presented

 

I`ll have another crack at it today if it`s quiet, and probably write down the bits I DO understand and focus on the bits I don`t, and then try and peice it all together like a jigsaw puzzel until it forms a whole.

[5614]

And you can always ask here, get us to explain it in simpler terms.

 

If you already have then sorry, I've been away for a bit, I'll see the thread soon!

[calbiterol]

YT, something that often helps me when learning from overly verbose texts is to copy down every piece of important detail in my own words, including formulae. Sometimes I will even copy down formulae to a different area - this works especially well if you need a reference guide.

 

If your book has problems in it and an answer key, I would highly suggest muddling through a problem or two and trying to arrive at the right answer. Even if you do not intuitively grasp the material after getting problems correct, it is a huge step in the right direction, and I find that rereading the section after doing so makes it infinitely more understandable.

 

Calbit

[Royston]

I'm going through exactly the same thing at the moment, trying to strip couloumbs law down plus using the energy of a photon for a fine structure constant, to get a dimensionless figure. 1/137.0001 (can't remember the exact figure)

 

I want to be as methodical as possible, but as it's a part time degree course, I just havn't got the time I'd like, to wrap my head around it.