About

This project was originally created in the summer of 2024 as a vision for an interactive and in-depth learning experience for physics. The website was a cooperative effort on the part of hobbyist web developer Edward Jiang and USAPhO silver medalist/3-time USAPhO qualifier Eric Hanyu Niu (you can obviously tell who's the more qualified individual here). As of currently the project has reached its original goal of completing all the major topics covered in AP Physics C: Mechanics (and bonus fluids section), and regular content updates/new functionalities will be pushed out in the near future.

Our Mission

While our website's simple mission might be just to educate people on physics, our actual vision with this project is much bigger. In simple terms, our vision might be best explained as this: To give the world a better understanding of what physics, specifically mechanics, really is (it was also originally designed to get more people to join a local physics club).

Physics is not an easy subject to grasp, yet it is fundamental to understanding the world around us. You can imagine it as the law that governs our universe and our surroundings. I'd like you to ponder a few things.

Why do you fall back down whenever you jump?

How does your car engine work?

How can a rocket propel itself into space?

Does time really pass the same for everyone?

These are just some of the questions that can ultimately be answered using physics. Are you intrigued yet?

The STEM Education Challenge

On a more critical note, if you look at it demographically, the U.S. is currently lacking domestic STEM students. This statistic is not fabricated—it's proven fact (search it up yourself!). According to the 2023/2024 academic year data, roughly 56% of all international students enrolled in STEM-related fields. ^[1]

The percentage becomes even more pronounced at the graduate level: in 2019 and 2020, international students received 49% of all STEM master's degrees and 57% of all STEM doctorate degrees. ^[2]

While domestic students still hold the advantage in undergraduate majors, this represents only the first four years of higher education. The critical insight lies in recognizing that international students comprise just 5% of the total U.S. population, yet over half of them pursue STEM fields and earn nearly half or more of all graduate STEM degrees. These statistics reveal a significant gap in domestic STEM engagement that may pose challenges to the nation's development in the upcoming years.

Why Physics? The Foundation of Scientific Understanding

This poses a crucial question: Why focus specifically on physics? The answer lies in physics' fundamental role as the cornerstone of all scientific disciplines. Physics provides the mathematical framework and conceptual foundation upon which all other sciences are built.

Chemistry, for instance, cannot be fully understood without quantum mechanics and thermodynamics. Biology increasingly relies on biophysics to explain cellular processes and molecular interactions. Engineering disciplines—from mechanical to electrical to aerospace—are direct applications of physical principles. No matter what science it may be, it always has certain roots that can be traced back to physics.

Moreover, physics develops critical thinking skills that extend far beyond scientific applications. It teaches students to approach complex problems systematically, to think quantitatively about cause and effect, and to construct logical arguments based on evidence. These skills are invaluable in our modern society, which is becoming increasingly technologically driven, with many career paths requiring core skills and aptitudes like these.

Our Vision for Impact

As you may have predicted, our primary mission is to foster students' interest in STEM, particularly inspiring domestic students to pursue careers in these critical fields. By making physics accessible and engaging, we aim to realize the full potential of the currently underutilized domestic STEM talent while simultaneously creating intrigue for the sciences among our surrounding communities.

When students understand physics, they gain more than just knowledge of abstract formulas and equations — they develop a lens through which to view and interpret the natural world. Such a viewpoint is crucial for innovation, whether in developing sustainable energy solutions, advancing medical technologies, exploring the frontiers of space, or even creating the next technological marvel of the 21st century.

It may all sound a bit far-fetched now, but by building and promoting better physics education today, we are actively sowing the seeds for a new generation of problem-solvers and innovators who will grow and shape the world of tomorrow!

Technicalities

This project was built primarily using Nuxt.js 4. (https://nuxt.com) For anyone interested, Nuxt is a framework that enables fullstack development with Vue.js on the frontend, Nitro as a server engine, and Vite as a build tool.

This project also utilizes a CSS framework, Halfmoon CSS (https://www.gethalfmoon.com), a drop-in Bootstrap replacement, which was used to effortlessly create a (somewhat) nice looking layout and website.

MathJax (https://mathjax.org) were implemented for clean looking equations and math symbols.

Matter.js (https://brm.io/matter-js) is a rigid body 2d physics engine that runs on the web and is used to create the interactive demos found in some of our lessons. It will be mentioned multiple times in future lessons but this engine isn't perfect, which limits its capabilities in certain cases where we try to demonstrate physical concepts.

Contact

If you have any questions, about physics or not, you can contact Edward via discord (edward.jiang_) or email (edward456jiang@gmail.com).

If the question is physics related, you are most likely much better off asking Eric (Hanyu) (email: antimatter5175@gmail.com).

License

This project is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0.