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