Physics 314, "Introduction to Modern Physics", Winter 2005

This material can be found online at URL

http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/phys314/phys314.html

Outline for the course, class schedule, etc.

Syllabus, including reading assignments and test dates.

Grades so far

Lectures

1. If it's so old, why is it called "Modern Physics?"
2. Review of Classical Mechanics
3. The Michelson-Morley experiment
   • Analogy: travel through a stationary medium
   • Analogy: travel through a flowing medium
   • Some mathematical manipulation
   • The 1887 paper by Michelson and Morley
     • HTML format
     • PDF format
   • The motion of the Earth
4. The puzzling results of the Michelson-Morley experiment.
   • MM experiment's result on the ether hypothesis, (taken from Michael Janssen's WWW page )
5. Einstein's explanation
   • This would be a good time to read Chapters 1 ("City Speed Limit") and 2 ("The Professor's Lecture on Relativity") of Mr. Tompkins in Paperback
6. Consequences: Time Dilation
   • One good example of this effect is the behavior of muons produced by cosmic rays.

7. Consequences: Contraction and Velocity Addition
   • This would be a good time to read Chapter 3 ("Mr. Tompkins takes a holiday") of Mr. Tompkins in Paperback
8. The Lorentz Transformations
9. Simultaneity
10. The Relativistic Doppler Effect

11. Relativity, Momentum, and Kinetic Energy
12. Rest Energy
13. An example of relativistic dynamics
14. "Superluminal" motions in astronomical sources

15. Blackbody Radiation -- the Ultraviolet Catastrophe
16. Planck's solution to the Ultraviolet Catastrophe
17. Einstein and the Photoelectric Effect
    • Perhaps you'd a chance to play with a Photoeletric Effect applet
    • The Photoelectric Effect in Action: Electronic cameras
18. The Compton Effect
19. The Inverse Compton Effect -- in Spa-a-a-ce!

20. Wave/photon duality I. Interference by single photons?
    Please read for Tuesday's class the portion of the article below which discusses the "delayed-choice" experiment.
    • The Reality of the Quantum World by Abner Shimony.
21. Wave/photon duality II. The delayed-choice experiment
22. Review of Interference and Diffraction
    • This would be a good time to read Chapters 5 ("Quantum Billiards") and 6 ("Quantum Jungles") of Mr. Tompkins in Paperback

23. Diffraction of Electrons and other particles
    • Download the entire 1927 paper by Davisson and Germer (in PDF format)
24. Uncertainty, in waves and elsewhere
25. Heisenberg's microscope
26. Some examples of the Uncertatinty Principle in action

27. A cast of characters for the sub-atomic realm
28. Very simple models of the atom
    • Check out Rutherford Scattering WWW pages, which include applets showing how the scattering experiments works, both Plum Pudding and Nuclear flavors.
29. Rutherford and the discovery of the nucleus
    • This cartoon by Miss Day may clarify Rutherfords's work for you ....
30. The mystery of emission-line spectra
31. Bohr's model of the atom explains atomic spectra
    • Use this applet showing Energy Levels and Spectra to see for yourself how it works.

32. The Franck-Hertz experiment supports Bohr's model
33. Problems with Bohr's model
34. Review of differential equations

35. The Schrodinger equation
36. Using Schrodinger's method: particle in a 1-D Box
37. Using Schrodinger's method: potential barriers and tunnelling
38. The Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM)
    Read an article from Scientific American on the STM by its inventors

39. The Simple Harmonic Oscillator
40. The REAL hydrogen atom
41. Where is the electron in a hydrogen atom?
42. More quantum numbers: angular momentum
    The original description of the Zeeman effect
43. Spin: the last quantum number
    Plus a digression on radio astronomy

44. Elements with more than one electron
45. The Periodic Table of the Elements
    ... which leads to the Periodic Table of Haiku
46. The discovery of radium

Homework sets.

• Problem Set 0: Using Webwork due Friday, Dec 2, at 2:00 PM.
• Problem Set 1: Special Relativity I due Friday, Dec 9, at 2:00 PM.
  • Answers to homework 1
• Problem Set 2: Special Relativity II due Friday, Dec 16, at 2:00 PM.
  • Answers to homework 2
• Problem Set 3: Light acts like a particle due Thursday, Jan 19, at 2:00 PM.
  • Answers to homework 3
• Problem Set 4: Matter acts like a wave, and uncertainty due Friday, Jan 27, at 9:00 AM. Note change in due date
  • Answers to homework 4
• Problem Set 5: Simple Models of the Atom due Tuesday, Feb 7, at 2:00 PM.
  • Answers to homework 5
• Problem Set 6: The Schroedinger Equation due Friday, Feb 17, at 9:00 AM.
  • Answers to homework 6
• Problem Set 7: More Quantum Numbers due Sunday, Feb 26, at 2 PM.
  • Answers to homework 7

Extra Credit Projects (each student may hand in up to 2 extra credit projects during the quarter)

1. The Decay of a Neutron Due Wednesday, Jan 18, at 5 PM.
2. Halogen vs. ordinary light bulbs Due Wednesday, Jan 18, at 5 PM.
3. Macroscopic Photons? Due Wednesday, Jan 25, at 5 PM.
4. What is the mystery object? Due Wednesday, Feb 8, at 5 PM.
5. Identify the element using K- and L-shell electrons Due Friday, Feb 24, at 5 PM.

Other Physics Information

• The book Mr. Tompkins in Paperback, by George Gamow, provides an amusing and informative overview of relativity and quantum mechanics. I have placed it on reserve in the library.
• Another excellent reference for this course is the series Understanding Physics by Isaas Asimov. Volume III, "The Electron, Proton, and Neutron," is especially relevant to the material we cover after relativity. I've placed it on reserve in the library. I've also put on reserve a later collection of all three volumes in one book, titled The History of Physics.
• Too much free time? Why not build your own cyclotron?
• A good source of values for physical constants is the NIST site on Fundamental Physical Constants. If you're interested in the properties of subatomic particles, try The Review of Particle Physics site at LBL.
• The WebElements site contains a great deal of information on the chemical elements. Another is the on-line periodic table provided by the Los Alamos Laboratory's Chemical Division. If you can't find a piece of information here, try looking in the library for The CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics
• A good place to look for information on the nuclear properties of different elements is The Berkeley Laboratory Isotopes Project's "Exploring the Table of Isotopes" web page
• You can view a face-centered-cubic crystal lattice from any angle with a very nice crystal-viewer applet; thanks to Winston Chan at the University of Iowa.
• Paul Falstad's Physics and Math applets include some which illustrate material in this course.
• The Wolfram Integrator can help you with a tough integral if you don't have a reference table handy.
• The view from a car moving at relativistic speeds, thanks to the University of Evansville - On Line Interactive Education project.
• The Seeing Relativity site provides software to view the world as if you were speeding through it at relativistic speeds. Thanks to Mr. Borukhovich for pointing it out...
• Spectra of Gas Discharges shows very pretty versions of the optical spectra of many elements.
• Another source of spectral information
• Classic papers in physics and chemistry from the Chem Team collection.
• Comments on science, from characters in movies. From the And you call yourself a scientist! site. My favorite is

            From Street Fighter (1994):
             "Dr Dhalsim! How is your research today?"
             "The same. Warped. Corrupted. My science twisted to 
                    serve perversion instead of peace."
             "Tell you what: after I've crushed my enemies, 
                    we'll see about getting you published."
           

This page maintained by Michael Richmond. Last modified Nov 28, 2005.

Copyright © Michael Richmond. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.