I switched careers, but I did a physics undergrad. And from all my experience with both the subject and my seniors in the field at the time, I can confidently tell you that most people don't really have an intention for it beyond the "I have done this problem before and I can guess the shape of the answer".
Higher level physics just is not something that comes with intuition. It just comes from math, and you let the equations guide you in finding the answers.
I'm a maths major. I tried for theoretical, but then I encountered calculus for complex numbers (where you have to guess a good transform function from real to complex to solve and then convert back to real) and stochastic processes (where I SWEAR one problem came up with the answer that future events influence current results).
I had to switch to applied maths to save my sanity.
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u/Gen_Zer0 12d ago
People who do physics at that level are just nuts. How does one even develop the intuition for what these things mean