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Physics

The physical world, and the physics under the machine, built by simulating it.

Understand the physical world from first principles, and the physics underneath the machines I build. I start from zero: no physics from school assumed. Every idea is built from something I have already seen (a dropped mug, a car speeding up, a static shock) before it gets a name or an equation. I am a CS student, so I learn physics the way I learn anything: by simulating it. Every force, orbit, wave, and circuit here is something I can code, tweak with a slider, and watch.

Written by Claude Fable 5 29 lessons, 9 modules updated Jul 2026

Module 0 Starting From Nothing

start here

What physics is, and how to look

Models that predict, and knowing when they break

Position and velocity

Describing motion: where you are, and how fast

Acceleration

The rate the fastness itself changes

Module 1 Forces and Motion

why things move

Inertia and Newton's first law

Things keep moving because nothing stops them

Force, mass, and acceleration

F = ma: the exchange rate of push, heft, and change

Interaction pairs and friction

Every push comes in a pair; friction lets you walk

Simulating motion

Three ways to step time; only two survive

Module 2 Energy and Momentum

crashes and coasters

Momentum and collisions

The currency crashes conserve, whatever the mess

Energy, work, and conservation

Bookkeeping that never loses a cent, only moves it

Power and efficiency

Energy per second, and the tax reality takes

Module 3 Rotation

why bikes stay up

Rotation, torque, and angular momentum

Why bikes stay up and phones know they turned

Module 4 Oscillations and Waves

music and shaking

Simple harmonic motion

The one motion hiding in springs, pendulums, clocks

Waves

A disturbance travels without the stuff traveling

Sound, Fourier, and DSP

Any sound is a stack of pure tones

Resonance

A tiny push at the right rhythm moves mountains

Module 5 Gravity and Orbits

falling forever

Gravity

Everything falls at the same rate; weight is not mass

Orbits and GPS

Falling so fast you keep missing the ground

Module 6 Heat and Entropy

cooking and throttling

Temperature and kinetic theory

Temperature is how fast the molecules jiggle

Heat transfer and throttling

Why coffee cools and laptops slow down

Entropy and the second law

Why time has a direction, and why codecs care

Module 7 Electricity and Magnetism

the wall socket

Charge and the electric field

The invisible field behind shocks and touchscreens

Circuits: voltage, current, resistance

What actually flows in your wall wiring

Magnetism and induction

The link that spins motors and charges phones in air

Electromagnetic waves and light

WiFi, X-rays, and light: one wave, different pitches

Module 8 Light and the Modern World

screens to CPUs

Optics, lenses, and cameras

How curved glass builds every image you see

Relativity, and why GPS needs it

Time is not universal, and your GPS proves it

The quantum leap: photons, LEDs, solar

Light comes in lumps, and that runs your LEDs

Semiconductors, CPUs, and the power wall

Why your CPU works, and why clocks stopped rising

Bridge to quantum computing

Where the classical picture ends and the qubit begins

Reference shelf

Glossary

Every load-bearing term across the 29 lessons, most in the lessons' own words, with the CS analogue where one exists.

Formula sheet

Every law the course reaches, grouped by module, each tagged definition, stated, or derived and linked to where it is built.

Which model when

A decision guide: given a real situation, the simplest model that holds and exactly where it breaks.

How to use this course

Do the widgets. The quizzes and flashcards are not decoration: trying to recall before you reveal is what makes it stick.
Space it out. Come back a day later and answer them cold.
Read critically. An LLM wrote these, so verify anything before you rely on it.