breadcrumbs-home chemeketa-community-college-abstract-logo chemeketa-community-college-abstract-logo cross minus plus menu search oregon chemeketa-instagram chemeketa-logo-full-color envelope-o star check close home chevron-left chevron-right plus2 chevron-up chevron-down twitter facebook envelope linkedin angle-left angle-right angle-up angle-down rotate-left instagram
Jump to Header Jump to Main Navigation and Secondary Navigation Jump to main content Jump to Footer

Physics

Physics is a subject required for many science, engineering, and medical degrees. It also can fulfill requirements for a variety of associate and bachelor's degrees. Chemeketa offers a number of physics courses covering topics such as conceptual physics, calculus-based physics, and astronomy.

topics Science

Skills & InterestFiguring Things Out

CareersScience & Engineering

  • Looking out at a mountain on a starry night
  • Two students working together on a laptop
  • Two students working in a lab together

Why choose Physics?

Physics will satisfy your curiosity if you are interested in the fundamental behavior of matter and energy. The subject ranges from the very small (subatomic particles) to the very large (the entire universe).

What will you learn?

  • Why the world around you behaves the way it does
  • Laws of energy, gravity, and momentum
  • Applications of the principles of physics to work, energy, and power
  • Structure of matter, heat, energy, sound, and light
  • Physics of fluids, oscillations, waves, thermodynamics, electricity, and magnetism
  • The fundamentals of astronomy including planets, stellar evolution, and cosmology
  • Practical problem solving skills and critical thinking

Where can you learn?

All physics classes are either online or “remote” (online with some synchronous requirements) through at least March 2020. Normally, we teach in Salem, online, and in prison (with the College Inside program). We also normally have Friday night shows every week at our Planetarium during the regular school year as well as shows during the day for school groups.

Becoming a professional physicist almost always requires a bachelor's degree or more from a university. So transferring to a university after studying at Chemeketa is necessary for a career in the field. Please contact us if you are interested in majoring in physics.

What will you do?

After several years of study, professional physicists develop and refine many useful devices such as –

  • Computers
  • Lasers
  • Cell phones
  • MRI machines
  • Electron microscopes
  • Rockets

Physicists also study interesting concepts such as –

  • The age of the universe
  • Gravitational waves
  • Bose-Einstein condensates
  • Gamma ray bursts
  • Black holes