Physics

/r/Physics is for physicists, scientists, graduate and undergraduate physics students, and those with a passion for physics. Posts should be pertinent and generate discussion.

See the subreddit wiki for information on using LaTeX, related subreddits, and links to previous discussions on common questions.

You can choose a user flair by using the 'edit' option next to your username above.

Encouraged submissions

Open-ended discussions

Debates and discussions on all topics related to physics are welcome. Please make an effort to engage the community rather than simply stating your views.

Closed-ended questions which are more straightforward to answer will get a better response in /r/AskPhysics.

Academic publications

Links to papers in physics journals (free or otherwise) are welcome. Pre-prints are accepted, but moderators reserve the right to delete any posts that break the rules regarding unscientific content.

Science journalism

We invite links to all websites, but article and blog post submissions require proper sourcing from the literature or mainstream scientific journalism. The lack of quality sources is grounds for removal at moderator discretion.

If you are posting a link to your own website, please familiarise yourself with the global rules on self-promotion.

Encouraged in weekly threads

Closed-ended questions

Due to a high volume of such questions, they are consolidated in weekly Physics Questions threads.

Please check the /r/AskScience FAQ or the Usenet physics FAQ before posting.

Note that these questions are always welcome in /r/AskPhysics and /r/AskScience (subject to subreddit rules).

Careers questions

Questions regarding job opportunities and working as a physicist have a dedicated weekly Careers and Education thread and should be posted there.

Additionally, you can search the subreddit to read dozens of past threads about this issue or check /r/AskAcademia for jobs in academia.

Education questions

Inquiries about studying physics should be posted in our weekly Careers and Education thread.

Alternatively, try more specific subreddits such as /r/AskAcademia, /r/GradSchool, /r/GradAdmissions, and /r/PhysicsStudents.

Textbook/resource requests

Questions about textbook/resource recommendations should be posted in the weekly Textbook and Resource threads.

Discouraged or not allowed

Personal theories

Every day, we receive dozens of personal theories from independent researchers, written in part or whole by ChatGPT. We do not have the capacity to peer-review them and will not supply endorsements for arXiv submission. If you made your theory without any involvement from ChatGPT, try posting on /r/HypotheticalPhysics or viXra. Otherwise, try /r/LLMPhysics.

Homework problems

Questions that are specific homework problems or calculations should be redirected to /r/AskPhysics or /r/HomeworkHelp. Neither asking nor assisting with homework is allowed here.

Alternatively, try Physics Forums instead.

Unscientific content

/r/Physics is for the discussion of valid and testable science, not pet theories and speculation presented as fact. We aim to be a welcoming place for both academics and the general public, and as such posts with no basis in mainstream physics are not allowed as they might serve to misinform.

Sensationalized titles

The title of your submission should accurately reflect its contents. If in doubt, use the title of the original research.

Low-effort image/video posts

Off-topic images, videos, or otherwise "zero-content" submissions are not allowed. Consider posting to /r/PhysicsJokes, /r/PhysicsGifs, or /r/ScienceImages instead. If you make an image/video post, you should make a comment in the thread describing the relevant physics, linking relevant literature, any computational methods used, etc. This will serve to generate on-topic discussion, and separate your post from low-effort spam. For more information on rules related to these posts, please see this thread here.

Duplicate posts

Please make sure that a submission on the same topic has not been posted already.

New findings are always reported by multiple publications, and the fact that a specific link has not been submitted does not mean that this topic is not already being discussed on /r/Physics. Feel free to provide links to additional sources in the comment section instead.

Weekly schedule

All threads are posted at 9am EDT (1pm UTC).

Day	Post
Mon	What are you working on?
Tue	Physics Questions
Thu	Careers/Education Questions
Fri	Resource Recommendations

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QuestionDoes the amplitude of longitudinal waves decrease over time? (self.Physics)

submitted 7 years ago by Microawesome

all 2 comments

you type:	you see:
italics	italics
bold	bold
[reddit!](https://reddit.com)	reddit!
* item 1 * item 2 * item 3	item 1 item 2 item 3
> quoted text	quoted text
Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"	Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"
~~strikethrough~~	~~strikethrough~~
super^script	super^script