Department of Physics
Physics 110 - Awesome Ideas in Physics
Course Outline -- Spring 2008-09
I. TOPICS (subject to change)
| # | Date | Subject Matter | Reading Assignment |
| A. Scientific Method from the Greeks to Newton | |||
| 1 | 1/13 | Introduction to the Course | Rohrlich Ch.1-3 |
| 2 | 1/15 | From Aristotle &Ptolemy to Copernicus &Kepler | Rohrlich Ch. 4, Hawking Ch 1 |
| 3 | 1/20 | Galileo & Newton; Force, acceleration, gravity | Rohrlich Ch. 5 |
| 4 | 1/22 | Newtonian revolution; Hints of Trouble |
Rohrlich Ch.5 |
| 5 | 1/27 | Conservation Laws; Principle of equivalence | Rohrlich Ch. 4, Lightman Ch. 1 |
| B. Special Relativity | |||
| 6 | 1/29 | Background to Relativity, Electrodynamics, Speed of light, Whither the Ether? | Rohrlich Ch.6(a,b), Lightman pp 119-135 |
| 7 | 2/3 | Principle of Relativity; Constancy of the Speed of Light | Rohrlich Ch. 6(c), Lightman pp 135-145 |
| 8 | 2/5 | Observers and Measurement, Events, How do we Measure Time, Length, Speed? | |
| 9 | 2/10 | Consequences of Relativity, Failure of Simultaneity, Time Dilation, Addition of Velocities | Rohrlich Ch. 6(d,e), Lightman pp 145-162 |
| 10 | 2/12 | Spacetime; spacetime diagrams,
Invariant Interval , Causality, Light Cones |
Rohrlich Ch. 6(g), Hawking Ch. 2, Lightman pp 166-177 |
| 11 | 2/17 | Twin Paradox, Pole-in-the-Barn Paradox | |
| 12 | 2/19 | Relativistic Dynamics; E=mc^2 | Rohrlich Ch. 6(f), Lightman pp 163-165 |
| C. Quantum Mechanics | |||
| 13 | 2/24 | Black-body Radiation, Photoelectric Effect | Rohrlich Ch. 9, Lightman pp 181-194 |
| 14 | 2/26 | Compton Scattering, Atoms from Rutherford to Bohr | Rohrlich Ch. 9, Lightman pp 194-231 |
| 3/3 | Midterm | ||
| 15 | 3/5 | Bohr & de Broglie; Particles & Waves; | Rohrlich Ch. 10 |
| 3/17 | "Einstein Revealed" Part 1 | ||
| 16 | 3/19 | Waves & Probability; Quantum Mechanics | Rohrlich Ch.11, Hawking Ch. 4 |
| 17 | 3/24 | Applications and Tests of Quantum Mechanics | Rohrlich Ch. 12 |
| 18 | 3/26 | Particles and Fields, Antimatter, Standard Model of quarks and leptons | Hawking Ch. 5 |
| 3/31 | "Einstein Revealed" Part 2 | ||
| D. General Relativity and Cosmology | |||
| 19 | 4/2 | Background to General Relativity; Curved Spacetime, Field Equations | Rohrlich Ch.7(a-e) |
| 20 | 4/7 | Tests of GR; Gravitational Redshift, Light Deflection, Mercury's Perihelion | |
| 4/9 | Help Session | ||
| 21 | 4/14 | Black Holes; Event Horizon,
Singularities; Astronomical Evidence, Wormholes |
Rohrlich Ch. 7(f), Hawking Ch. 6, 7, 10 |
| 22 | 4/16 | Gravitational Waves; Binary Pulsar; Gravity Wave Observatories | |
| 23 | 4/21 | Cosmology; The Expanding Universe; The Big Bang; Fate of the Universe | Hawking Ch. 3, 8 |
| 24 | 4/23 | Beyond Awesome: Superstrings,
Branes, Multiverses, Quantum Spacetime |
Hawking Ch. 11 |
| 5/3 | Final Exam | ||
II. TEXT AND REFERENCES
Text:
References (on reserve in the Physics Library) (link to a list)
III. HOMEWORK DATES
|
DATE |
HAND
OUT |
DUE |
GRADED |
|
Homework
#1 |
Jan 29 |
Feb 5 |
Feb 12 |
|
Homework
#2 |
Feb 5 |
Feb 12 |
Feb 19 |
|
Homework
#3 |
Feb 12 |
Feb 19 |
Feb 26 |
|
Homework
#4 |
Feb 19 |
Feb 26 |
Mar 5 |
|
Midterm
Test |
Mar 3 |
Mar 3 |
Mar 17 |
|
Homework
#5 |
Mar 19 |
Mar 26 |
Apr 2 |
|
Homework
#6 |
Mar 26 |
Apr 2 |
Apr 9 |
|
Homework
#7 |
Apr 9 |
Apr 16 |
Apr 23 |
|
Homework
#8 |
Apr 16 |
Apr 23 |
Apr 30 |
|
Final
Exam |
May 5 |
May 5 |
|
|
|