Course Syllabus
Welcome
We live in a technological world surrounded by machines of nearly magical ability. For your grandparents knowing where you were to within a mile or two required specialized equipment and training—now you just take out your phone. And if they were injured doctors used radioactive minerals and silver salts to look inside the body instead of an MRI machine. But how do GPS and MRI machines work?
It turns out that relativity and quantum mechanics have become the foundation of much of modern technological life. In this class we will explore how our modern technological world depends on relativity and quantum mechanics, and along the way we will explore the history of quantitative knowledge—how we know what we know.
Embarking on a modern physics class can be intimidating—few things trigger more fear than “a simple introduction to physics.” But to the intrepid and brave, I will make a few promises before we start:
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No math. While the language of relativity and quantum mechanics is written using fairly advanced math, I don’t believe one has to read Japanese before you can appreciate Japanese art. Our journey will focus on the beauty and elegance of the physical world.
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No philosophy. There has been a fascination with the ‘meaning’ of quantum mechanics and relativity, but we’ll leave that discussion for pints down at the pub. Here we will focus on what we see.
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Everything we encounter will be experimentally verified. While some of the results might be surprising, nothing we encounter will be speculative. This is how our world works.
Grading
Grades will based on homework & quizzes (15%), midterms (Feb 6 & Feb 27; 20% each), class participation (10%), and a final paper (due March 13; 35%). There will be no final. In general the early part of each week will concentrate on understanding how the physical world works, with the end of the week looking at how that impacts our lives and the history of quantitative understanding. Homework will be due Sunday night each week, and extra credit on homework will always be available for creativity or extra effort. Reading load will be modest, but much of the reading will be difficult (must be read slowly). Quizzes will be assigned along with the reading assignments.
Office hours
Skye Kidd: Friday 4:00-5:00 C108 (enter main tower doors, turn immediately left)
Miguel Morales: Wednesday 12:00-1:00 C325, and by appointment email
Text
There will be a variety of reading, most from an online text I wrote. A full list of all seven articles can be found here.
Syllabus
For panopto recordings of lectures, click on the link in the left sidebar
Week 1
Th: Introduction; ice breaker; Eratosthenes; what time is it; Earth rotation, sidereal vs. solar time; slides
Week 2
T: What time is it? Analemma, sundials; Sundial field trip; history of time; Where am I? Latitude & Longitude; ancient way finding; The Longitude Problem; slides
Th: Introduction to Waves. Wavelength, amplitude, speed, transverse, compression, restoring force; Let there be light; slides
Online: the simulations of interference used in class can be found here: https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/wave-interference/latest/wave-interference_all.html ; in particular the waves and slits sub-sections.
Reading: History of Clocks
Homework: Sun dials
Week 3
T: TBD
Th: Moving like a wave and hitting like a particle; Electromagnetic spectrum & telescopes across the spectrum; slides
Reading: Chapter 1
Homework: Double slit
Week 4
T: Speed of light, starting with the Galilean moons, moving to measurements; Special Relativity. Concentrate on everyone thinks they’re right. Non-additive speed; Surveying & Geodimeter; slides
Th: Particle Melting Pot; Better clocks. Quartz, atomic, optical. Variation of earth’s spin and redefining time. UTC & atomic time.; slides
Reading: Chapter 2
Homework: Relativity & Particle Mixing
Week 5
T: GPS; Midterm review; slides
Th: History of computation. Abacus, mechanical calculators, looms, people Computers, tubes, machine language, modern developments; slides
Reading: History of computing reading
Week 6
T: Midterm 1 (Feb. 6);
Th: Personal history of computing; Communicating music. Music notation, player piano, records, CDs, MP3+; slides
Reading: Chapter 3
Homework: History of computation
Week 7
Th: World is made of notes; Particle introverts & extroverts; Spectrum allocation and VNA show and tell; slides
Th: Looking at the sky; Hanbury Brown & Twiss; Interferometers, science & applications; slides
Reading: Chapter 4
Homework: Final Paper Proposal, Midterm #1 correction
Week 8
T: Why the Caged Bird Sings (trapped waves); Atomic Traps; slides
Th: Quantum Dots; Midterm review; slides
Reading: Chapter 5
Week 9
T: Midterm 2 (Feb 27); Medical imaging: x-rays to MRI;
Th: Quantum Spooks; slides
Reading: Chapter 6
Week 10
T: Power generation: livestock, water… to superconductors; slides
Th: Gravity waves; slides; What we've learned and how we use it to understand the universe; slides
Reading: Last Chapter
Accommodations
Most accommodation requests will be handled through Disability Resources for Students, including special testing requests on the midterms.
Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/). Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form (https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/).