I almost finished my MSc Applied Physics :graduate:. Still have to write most of my thesis though
You have to know that mathematics
is the language of physics. If you're not willing to spend lots of time on formulas, then it's probably not a good idea to try to become a physicist. But maybe there are smaller courses that won't give you a degree, but that give you access to all the interesting parts without bothering you with all the math.
Having said that, I have to add that IMO a lot of the interesting stuff is in the formulas. For instance, if you have two balls with equal density, you can see from the math that the bigger one will fall faster. Why? Mass (and hence gravity force: Fg=m*g) is proportional to the volume, which is proportional to the third power of the radius of the ball:
m = rho * (4/3) * pi *
r^3. But the drag force is proportional to the surface, which is proportional to the square of the radius:
Fd = constant * v^2 *
r^2. So, when you keep increasing the radius, the gravity force will increase faster than the drag force. When decreasing the radius, gravity will decrease faster than drag. So, for large balls, the net acceleration and the terminal velocity will be more in favor of gravity. For small balls, drag will have more effect.
In the more complicated formulas the understanding may be lost, but the core formulas of physics are usually very simple: take E=mc^2 for instance. Then, the key to understanding is learning to deal with the high level of abstraction. In some parts of physics (e.g. quantummechanics) you have to learn to deal with objects that have seemingly nothing to do with daily life physics (so you have to learn to ignore your daily-life intuition somewhat). Then you have to build up a new familiarity with these new objects, get some intuition about their behavior, and find the link between those objects and the real-life physical reality.
