Bridge A
Experimental Basis of Quantum Thought
(Various preposterous misconceptions held a century ago)

Although this presentation is complete in itself, supplementary references are provided to Krane's Modern Physics. Similar material can be found at the end of most non-calculus elementary physics textbooks

Part I: Properties of light

Relativity

Michelson Morley experiment

  • The Classical attitude
  • Speed of light
  • Speed of the earth
  • Boats and rivers
  • Round trip times
  • Michelson interferometer
  • Ripples on water
  • Michelson's "defective" spectra
         
    Transformations
  • Relativity
  • Voigt transformations
  • Length, time, and mass
  • Length contraction and time dilation
  • Example of time dilation
  • Diagram of time dilation
    Velocity addition
  • Velocity transformation
  • Examples
    Momentum and Energy
  • Other 4-vectors
  • Transformation
  • Rest system
  • Momentum and energy
  • Energy expansion
  • Longitudinal and transverse "mass"

    Refs to Krane, Chapter 2
    General Relativity

  • Principle of Equivalence
  • Time and gravitational mass
  • The Triplets of Belleville
  • Eddington
  • Tea explanation
  • Black Holes - John Michel
  • Black holes - Pierre-Simon Laplace
  • Escape velocity
  • The Big Bang

    Refs to Krane, Chapter 15

    • Radiation from a Heated Solid or Plasma

    [Revisited in 3320 under "Statistical Physics"]

  • Stefan-Boltzmann law and Wien Displacement
  • Applet
  • Rayleigh-Jeans, Wien, and Planck
  • Conceptual solution
  • Planck's approach
  • Sum vs integral
  • Continuous average
  • Discrete average
  • Euclid's theorem
          Refs to Krane, Chapter 3:   Continuum radiation law, 77-83

    • Stefan-Boltmann and Wien Displacement

  • Stefan-Boltzmann law and Wien Displacement
  • Rayleigh-Jeans
  • Wien
  • Planck
  • Einstein formulation
  • Planck's doubts
  • Physics Today article

    • Applications

  • Power from the Sun
  • Radiation from the Earth
  • A solar collector
  • Big Bang microwave residue
  • Ear thermometers
  • Various definitions of temperature
  • Iterative solution

    • Photoelectric Effect

  • A year to open the door
  • Applet
  • The photon and the quantum
          Refs to Krane, Chapter 3:   photoelectric effect, 70-7

    Compton scattering

  • Energies and wavelengths
  • Conservation of momentum and energy
  • Applet
  • Conservation of energy and momentum
  • 90 degree scattering
  • Compton uncertainty
  • Einstein 1917
          Refs to Krane, Chapter 3:   Compton scattering, 83-6

    • Pair creation

  • Applet
  • Photon tracks
  • Bubble chamber evidence
  • Splashdown
          Refs to Krane, Chapter 3:   Pair production, 89

    • X-rays

  • Bremstrahlung and characteristic
  • Applications
  • Vacancy cascades
  • Crystal diffraction
          Refs to Krane, Chapter 3:   Bremstrahlung, 86-9;   characteristic X-rays and Moseley's law, 247-50

    • Part B: Properties of the Electron

    Electron diffraction

  • The Davisson-Germer accident
  • Lucky breaks & 2nd honeymoons
  • The electron wavelength
  • The annealed sample
  • DeBroglie wavelengths
  • Electron microscopes
          Refs to Krane, Chapter 4:   Davisson Germer experiment and DeBroglie waves, 100-10;   the electron microscope and the scanning tunneling microscope, plates facing 304

    • Part C: The nuclear atom

    The Rutherford Scattering Experiment

  • Experimental setup
  • How small?
  • Closest approach
  • Applet
          Refs to Krane, Chapter 4:   Rutherford scattering, 174-185

    Chapter 1
    Chapter 2
    Chapter 3
    Chapter 4
    Bridge B
    Chapter 5

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