Chapter 8 - The World of Atoms
Einstein's Annus Mirabilis

[einstein]
  • KOSMOS article

    Background

  • Einstein as a violinist
  • Einstein's explanation
  • Reading Assignment

    • Einstein's original papers (German)

  • Ann. Phys. 17, 132-148 (1905): Photoelectric effect (March)
  • Ann. Phys. 19, 289-306 (1906): Molecular size (April - thesis published January)
  • Ann. Phys. 17, 549-560 (1905): Brownian motion (May)
  • Ann. Phys. 17, 891-921 (1905): Moving bodies (June)
  • Ann. Phys. 18, 639-641 (1905): Mass-energy (September)

    • English translations

  • Photoelectric effect
  • Einstein's dissertation
  • Browninan motion
  • Moving bodies
  • Mass-energy

    • I. Photoelectric effect

    Why a wave?

  • Interference
  • Double slit diffraction
  • Two-slit animation
  • Applet
  • With low intensity
  • Quantum aspect
  • Exact science?

    • The experimental context: then and now

  • The Classical attitude
  • Discover Magazine - Lee Smolin

    • Radiation from a Heated Solid (Plasma)

  • Solar spectrum (see display case in hallway)
  • Fingerprints of the elements
  • Compare emission and absorption
  • Radiation applet
  • Distribution
  • Rayleigh-Jeans, Wien, and Planck
  • Planck's sum
  • Planck solution

    Applications and implications

  • 3-color vision
  • Color confusion
  • Power from the Sun
  • Solar cells
  • The Greenhouse Effect
  • Solar spectrum
  • Full-spectrum solar cells
  • 2.7 degree BBrad
  • WMAP

    Einstein's formulation

  • Einstein's 1917 paper
  • Emission and absorption
  • Einstein formulation
  • Bose - Kleppner essay

    • Photoelectric Effect

  • A year to open the door
  • Applet
  • Millikan oil drop
  • Millikan PE effect
  • The photon and the quantum
  • The origin of the word "photon"

    • Compton scattering

  • Conservation of momentum and energy
  • Applet
  • Energies and wavelengths
  • 90 degree scattering
  • Compton uncertainty
  • Einstein's 1917 paper
  • Kleppner essay

    • Pair creation

  • Applet
  • Photon tracks
  • Bubble chamber evidence

    • X-rays

  • Bremstrahlung and characteristic
  • Applet I
  • Applet II
  • Applet III
  • Applications
  • Vacancy cascades
  • Applet
  • Crystal diffraction

    • 2, 3. Brownian motion and molecular size

    The ideal gas laws

  • Animation expansion
  • Microscopic origin of pressure
  • Random positions of molecules
  • van der Waals equation
  • Brownian motion applet
  • Atoms observable to all

    • 4, 5. Relativity and mass-energy equivalence

    Waves

  • The electromagnetic spectrum
  • Applet: transverse and longitudinal waves
  • Polarization

    Michelson-Morley experiment

  • "Why me?" - Einstein
  • Speed of the earth
  • Boats and rivers
  • Round trip times
  • Michelson interferometer
  • Applet
  • Ripples on water

    Transformations

  • Voigt transformation
  • Apparent length contraction applet
  • Apparent time dilation applet
  • Why unsymmetric contraction and dilation?
  • Example of time dilation
  • Diagram of time dilation

    Velocity addition

  • Velocity transformation
  • Examples

    Coulomb's law and magnetism

  • Magnetism - retarded photon information

    Mass is a form of energy

  • Mass-energy
  • Units of F and m
  • Give Einstein the last word
  • Football physics with Tim Gay