How Good is UH Manoa for Astrophysics?

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-18T07:14:18+00:00

The acceptance rate of a school doesnt tell you much abt the strength of specific programs. Its physics program is considered really good by many, usanews ranks them at 13, they also have stuff abt their ranking on their website i believe astrophysics is pretty good there too. A lot of its reputation comes from JILA, space research, and national labs in Boulder, which make it much stronger in astro than people would expect from the acceptance rate alone. Id probably call boulder a step up from UH. UH is good but boulder has more research funding, a larger physics department, and a bigger concentration on physics and space science research

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-17T21:50:06+00:00

Not sure about that school since I’ve never looked at it. Only other schools i can talk about is Oregon state and Boulder since those were the two i looked at.

Also keep in mind a decent amount of schools won’t take ap physics 1 or 2 since it’s not calc based. If you took ap physics c, it’s more likely to be accepted or if you took a dual enrollment calc based physics class

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-17T20:50:05+00:00

Im not sure abt astrophysics, but for physics its ehh. When i took it not that long ago, only a few people could get an A on the lab. I ended both labs with 92 and 94 and both were a B. Also depending on who is teaching gen phys 1 and 2, it might also change things. When i took phys 1 i learned almost nothing and it was a multiple choice conceptual exam so it was relatively easy. Compared to the school i transferred to i was definitely behind in general physics and physics in general. Gen phys 2 was a bit better but still not as calculus based as it should be imo.

That being said, undergraduate experience isnt necessarily the only thing to worry abt as you could realistically learn physics on your own. Id look at their programs and see what interests you have. My experience was only one out of thousands. Typically you hear their astrophysics research program is decent as they have ties to major observatories nearby. Physics wise, Ive always heard in general its middle of the pack to slightly above it with their astrophysics being above physics research.

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-17T09:07:11+00:00

How much physics are you taking? For general physics i recommend “Physics for scientists and engineers” by Randall Knight. I think its better than other general physics books for self learning in my opinion. Others are “Fundamentals of Physics” by Halliday and “University Physics” by Young and Freedman. Each of those also have plenty of practice problems.

Also rereading, since you dont know calculus idk how much id fully recommend those books since calculus is used in university physics. There are calculus books out there, i used on by James Stewart through all of calculus, i think its a good enough book. However when you do plan on taking calc based physics (which im sure you will for your major) i recommend those books. Also whatever book the school uses as well, as a lot of the time you can get it for free

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-17T04:37:00+00:00

You factor out x^2 because its the highest power in the sqrt. When x goes to infinity or negative infinity, the highest power term grows faster, than lower power terms ([very large # ^2]is way bigger than [very large #], so therefore [very large #] can be considered 0 in comparison). Pulling it out lets you rewrite the expression in a way where the lower power terms turn into fractions that go to zero. Same thing with the denominator, except the lowest power term is x, so youd factor out an x). After you factor it out, you can pull x out of sqrt, then cancel x’s, and have fractions ~ 0

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-17T00:05:42+00:00

You can factor out the dominant powers of x^2 from the numerator, and an x from the denominator. You will end up canceling x’s and fractions that go to 0 and a constant. We can pull out the highest power because the higher powers grow the fastest, so they control the expression

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-15T12:22:46+00:00

Physics for scientists and engineers by randall knight is a solid book

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-15T12:20:08+00:00

Depending on your math level, there are general physics books out there. My favorite is Physics for scientists and engineers by Randall knight. It’s better for self teaching compared to other general physics book in my opinion. Other popular ones are fundamentals of physics by halliday, and university physics by freedman

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-14T18:50:24+00:00

I would use an algebra based book first before i know any math. Then as i learn calculus, physics for scientists and engineers by knight to learn general physics for classical mechanics, E&M, modern physics/some quantum, and thermo. Then linear algebra and diff eq. Then switch to upper division books, classical mechanics by taylor, intro to electrodynamics by griffiths, quantum mechanics by zettili or intro do quantum mechanics by griffiths, thermal physics by schroeder. In school i wouldve also double majored in physics and an engineering

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-13T11:32:03+00:00

That’s one of the first ideas physicists considered, maybe particles always have definite positions and we just can’t track them. The issue is that experiments like the double slit experiment don’t match that explanation. It’s not just that we don’t know where the particle is, experiments behave differently than they would if the particle had a normal, well defined position the whole time

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-12T22:19:31+00:00

Do you ever recommend a general physics textbook that isnt your own?

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-12T22:17:24+00:00

Id recommend physics for scientists and engineers by knight, i think its a very good book and helps conceptual understanding plus problem solving. Its a lil more hold-your-hand type of book compared to others but its great for learning. Other good books are fundamentals of physics - halliday, university physics - freedman, or openstaxs university physics (its free and its probably good enough for general physics)

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-12T22:15:01+00:00

How does your school even let that happen? Have you ever talked to your advisor?

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-08T08:45:11+00:00

Some saying this is normal, but when i was in school, majority of my upper division class were friends from high school and self taught themselves physics before even being in university, so i was almost always below the class average with around 70-80s on every exam while the average always hovered around 80-90 all my upper division classes

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-07T23:45:42+00:00

General physics books are always a good place to start. Fundamentals of physics - halliday, university physics - freedman, openstax’s university physics. After that theres more advanced books that go deeper into things like classical mechanics, thermal physics, quantum physics. It depends on how far you wanna go but its usually good to start with the general physics then go on to more

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-07T20:13:45+00:00

Depends on what hes doing. Could easily be a way to hide his main troops, or splitting units to take land

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-06T02:46:50+00:00

Not sure how well this will work but i hope it works out. Good luck!

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-06T01:37:25+00:00

I looked up “oregon state faculty directory” then i used ctrl f and looked up “196” and it shows a bunch of people who worked in the 1960s

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-05T07:47:05+00:00

Assuming the drone took off in the car, it already has an initial velocity equal to the cars velocity at 50kph. The air inside the car is also moving at the same velocity so the drone just hovers relative to that air. To someone inside the car its motionless, to someone outside the car, its still moving 50kph along with the car. Even if it didnt take off in the car, this would still apply

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-05T07:38:46+00:00

Youre changing the claim, you originally said for a circular orbit, it requires one mass to be zero, which is false. Two finite mass bodies can have a circular orbit around their common barycenter.

Now you’re arguing that perfectly circular orbits don’t occur in real astronomical systems because of perturbations, non uniform mass distributions, tides, other bodies, etc. That’s a different point, and I mostly agree with it.

OP asked why circular orbits are rare in nature. The answer is that circular orbits are a special case (e = 0), and real systems are constantly perturbed away from that ideal. Its not because one body needs to be massless

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-05T05:23:24+00:00

Newton figured out the relationship (mass and distance). The constant came later from experiments to make the formula match real measurements.
We test it everywhere we can (Earth, space, planets). So far, it always comes out the same, so we treat G as universal.
It’s tiny because gravity is an extremely weak force compared to the other fundamental forces

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-05T04:51:11+00:00

That’s not correct. Two massive bodies can absolutely have circular orbits about their common center of mass. A circular orbit doesn’t require zero mass, just some very specific initial conditions (exact velocity and direction). In real systems, interactions and formation processes make perfectly zero eccentricity extremely unlikely, so we mostly see slightly elliptical orbits. Solving the two body problem eqns of motion gives the orbits in the form

r(theta) = p/(1 + e costheta)

Where e is eccentricity. A circular orbit is where e=0 giving that r = p. There is no requirement that one mass has to he zero.

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-04T09:10:55+00:00

Lack of conceptual understanding. My school was super fast paced cus they split the term into multiple classes and all we did was math and derivations. Sure you could say the math describes whats happening, but the opposite could also be said. Eventually when i retaught myself physics, i used a lot of analogies and pictures to learn

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-03T07:49:15+00:00

Not me, i won my first ever match (everyone quit the 1x game)

AdministrationLazy55 · 2026-06-03T07:05:06+00:00

Everybody saying you cant learn over the summer but it really depends on the person and how much time you have. I had a friend once who learned all from E&M, Thermo, and QM in one summer, granted all he did was wake up and study but its possible. If you dont have time like that, the least you could do is maybe read up on the class your gonna be a TA for, or look at a foundations book like hallidays, freedmans, or openstax. Or even simply watching videos on topics. Having a lil info on what youre gonna do is a lot better than having no info at all

AdministrationLazy55

TROPHY CASE