We're all born with an urge to understand the world around us. This leads us to ask questions such as "How does a mobile phone work?", "How does the Sun keep on shining?", "What is dark matter?", "What are the ultimate constituents of matter?", "How did the Universe begin?" If you find that the more answers you discover, the more questions you want to ask, then you're on the road to becoming a physicist and should be considering taking a physics course in higher education

The word physics is derived from Greek word fusis, meaning nature or natural things. As such, physics is defined as that branch of science, which studies natural phenomena in terms of basic laws and physical quantities. The study is generally structured to satisfy queries, arising from the observed events occurring around our world. In this sense, Physics answers questions about universe and the way elements of universe interact to compose natural phenomena.

The underlying principles in physics are simple and general, but defining (basic) in nature. Elements and quantities used to describe natural phenomena are also general and basic. The whole of universe, matter of fact, can be considered to be comprising of two basic quantities : (i) matter and (ii) energy. For this reason, some physicists rightly define physics as the study of matter and energy.

Physics is all around us. It is in the electric light you turn on in the morning; the car you drive to work; your wristwatch, cell phone, CD player, radio, and that big plasma TV set you got for Christmas. It makes the stars shine every night and the sun shine every day, and it makes a baseball soar into the stands for a home run.

Physics is the science of matter, energy, space, and time. It explains ordinary matter as combinations of a dozen fundamental particles (quarks and leptons), interacting through four fundamental forces. It describes the many forms of energy—such as kinetic energy, electrical energy, and mass—and the way energy can change from one form to another. It describes a malleable space-time and the way objects move through space and time.

There are many fields of physics, for example: mechanics, electricity, heat, sound, light, condensed matter, atomic physics, nuclear physics, and elementary particle physics. Physics is the foundation of all the physical sciences—such as chemistry, material science, and geology—and is important for many other fields of human endeavor: biology, medicine, computing, ice hockey, television…the list goes on and on.

Physics is the scientific study of matter and energy and how they interact with each other. This energy can take the form of motion, light, electricity, radiation, gravity . . . just about anything, honestly. Physics deals with matter on scales ranging from sub-atomic particles (i.e. the particles that make up the atom and the particles that make up those particles) to stars and even entire galaxies.