Widely Applied Physics  I

PHYS 3110 -  Fall 2014

Synopsis: In this course I hope to give you a broad view of how physics is applied in understanding a wide variety of phenomena, building on your introductory physics background. This course will be a bit more conceptual than the standard upper level physics courses, with relatively less emphasis on mathematical techniques.

Textbook: The required text book for the course is Modern Physics, 6^th edition,  by P. A. Tipler and R. A. Llewellyn (ISBN: 978-1429250788).  We will not be using the text book until the 4^th week of the course. In addition there are a few reference books which will be placed on reserve.  

• G. I. Barenblatt, Dimensional Analysis.
• R. P. Feynman, Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol II.
• S. Thornton and A. Rex, Modern Physics for scientists and engineers.

I will be posting lecture notes, slides  and supplements on collab regularly.

Grading: The grade will be based on homework, a mid-term exam,  and the final exam

Grading will be as follows:

Homework: 30 %

Midterm: 30 %

Final Exam: 40 %

Class Attendance: Some  of the material covered in the course is not in the text books, and I will also be doing some demonstrations. So you need to attend the lectures to get the most out of the course.

Class Syllabus

1. Dimensional analysis (3 lectures)
   1. Dimensions of physical quantities. SI units.
   2. Dimensionless quantities, dimensional analysis and scaling.
   3. Examples: period of a pendulum, stellar oscillations, nuclear explosions, gravity waves, and diffusion.
   4. Modeling, scaling and order of magnitude estimates.

2. Fluid mechanics and aerodynamics (8 lectures)
   1. Properties of fluids and phases of matter
   2. Lift and drag
   3. Aerodynamics: applications of aerodynamics to golf balls, air-foils, airplanes, helicopters and propellers.

3. Electrical and thermal properties of materials (16 lectures)
   1. Review of quantum physics
   2. A brief introduction to statistical physics and its applications: super-fluid He, Bose-Einstein condensate.
   3. Molecular structure
   4. Absorption, Stimulated emission, and Scattering, Lasers, Masers, applications of lasers.
   5. The structure of solids
   6. Nanotubes, Graphene and their applications
   7. Transport properties, thermal and electrical conductivities of metals semiconductors, super conductors and insulators.
   8. Applications of super conductors: magnets, SQUIDS, medical applications, particle accelerators, power transmission.
   9. Semiconductor physics and applications
   10. Information storage, magnetic media.

A broad view of how physics is applied in understanding a wide variety of physical phenomena, building on introductory physics background. This course will be a bit more conceptual than the standard upper level physics courses, with relatively less emphasis on mathematical techniques.