Question

How does one build up an intuitive gut feeling for physics that some people naturally have? Physics seems to be a hodgepodge of random facts.

Is that a sign to quit physics and take up something easier?

Thanks for all the answers. On a related note, how many years does it take to master physics? 1-2 years for each level multiplied by many levels gives?

Answer 1

If physics seems to be a hodgepodge of random facts... well, it always seems that way when you're first learning. But physics is all about patterns and relationships, and if you keep working with it you should eventually get to a point where you see how different facts, formulas, and principles are related to each other. In my experience, for any given "piece" of physics this point comes 1-2 years after you first learn it. :-P

EDIT: In response to your related note, I don't know that anyone ever really "masters" physics. I'm not even sure exactly what that would mean, since physics as a whole is far too broad for any one person to ever understand in its entirety. But my impression is that, given the usual educational path (college then grad school), it takes anywhere from 3-10 years, depending on the topic and your level of preparation, to learn enough that you can start contributing to research in a single specific topic. Of course you never really stop learning.

Also, to clarify, the 1-2 year figure I mentioned isn't something you can multiply by a number to figure out how long it takes to learn physics ;-) And physics doesn't neatly split itself into levels (well, sort of, although the splitting you'll probably encounter is just a result of the requirements of our educational system). All I meant is that, from the first time you encounter any given physics concept (just to name a few: Newton's laws, the Euler-Lagrange equation, multipole expansion, free energy, quantum entanglement), you may not feel like that concept makes sense to you until 1-2 years later, on average. And that's perfectly normal.