## Activity: Central Forces Introduction: Lecture Notes

Central Forces 2023 (2 years)

In this course, we will examine a mathematically tractable and physically useful problem - that of two bodies interacting with each other through a central force, i.e. a force that has two characteristics:

Definition of a Central Force:

1. A central force depends only on the separation distance between the two bodies,
2. A central force points along the line connecting the two bodies.

The most common examples of this type of force are those that have $\frac{1}{r^2}$ behavior, specifically the Newtonian gravitational force between two point (or spherically symmetric) masses and the Coulomb force between two point (or spherically symmetric) electric charges. Clearly both of these examples are idealizations - neither ideal point masses or charges nor perfectly spherically symmetric mass or charge distributions exist in nature, except perhaps for elementary particles such as electrons. However, deviations from ideal behavior are often small and can be neglected to within a reasonable approximation. (Power series to the rescue!) Also, notice the difference in length scale: the archetypal gravitational example is planetary motion - at astronomical length scales; the archetypal Coulomb example is the hydrogen atom - at atomic length scales.

The two solutions to the central force problem - classical behavior exemplified by the gravitational interaction and quantum behavior exemplified by the Coulomb interaction - are quite different from each other. By studying these two cases together in the same course, we will be able to explore the strong similarities and the important differences between classical and quantum physics.

Two of the unifying themes of this topic are the conservation laws:

• Conservation of Energy
• Conservation of Angular Momentum
The classical and quantum systems we will explore both have versions of these conservation laws, but they come up in the mathematical formalisms in different ways. You should have covered energy and angular momentum in your introductory physics course, at least in simple, classical mechanics cases. Now is a great time to review the definitions of energy and angular momentum, how they enter into dynamical equations (Newton's laws and kinetic energy, for example), and the conservation laws.

In the classical mechanics case, we will obtain the equations of motion in three equivalent ways,

• using Newton's second law,
• using Lagrangian mechanics,
• using energy conservation.
so that you will be able to compare and contrast the methods. The third approach is slightly more sophisticated in that it exploits more of the symmetries from the beginning.

We will also consider forces that depend on the distance between the two bodies in ways other than $\frac{1}{r^2}$ and explore the kinds of motion they produce.

• face Ideal Gas

face Lecture

120 min.

##### Ideal Gas
Thermal and Statistical Physics 2020

These notes from week 6 of Thermal and Statistical Physics cover the ideal gas from a grand canonical standpoint starting with the solutions to a particle in a three-dimensional box. They include a number of small group activities.
• assignment_ind Magnetic Moment \& Stern-Gerlach Experiments

assignment_ind Small White Board Question

30 min.

##### Magnetic Moment & Stern-Gerlach Experiments
Quantum Fundamentals 2022 (3 years)

Students consider the relation (1) between the angular momentum and magnetic moment for a current loop and (2) the force on a magnetic moment in an inhomogeneous magnetic field. Students make a (classical) prediction of the outcome of a Stern-Gerlach experiment.
• face Thermal radiation and Planck distribution

face Lecture

120 min.

##### Thermal radiation and Planck distribution
Thermal and Statistical Physics 2020

These notes from the fourth week of Thermal and Statistical Physics cover blackbody radiation and the Planck distribution. They include a number of small group activities.
• face Equipartition theorem

face Lecture

30 min.

##### Equipartition theorem
Contemporary Challenges 2022 (4 years)

This lecture introduces the equipartition theorem.
• group Box Sliding Down Frictionless Wedge

group Small Group Activity

120 min.

##### Box Sliding Down Frictionless Wedge
Theoretical Mechanics (4 years)

Students solve for the equations of motion of a box sliding down (frictionlessly) a wedge, which itself slides on a horizontal surface, in order to answer the question "how much time does it take for the box to slide a distance $d$ down the wedge?". This activities highlights finding kinetic energies when the coordinate system is not orthonormal and checking special cases, functional behavior, and dimensions.
• face Gibbs entropy approach

face Lecture

120 min.

##### Gibbs entropy approach
Thermal and Statistical Physics 2020

These lecture notes for the first week of Thermal and Statistical Physics include a couple of small group activities in which students work with the Gibbs formulation of the entropy.
• group Applying the equipartition theorem

group Small Group Activity

30 min.

##### Applying the equipartition theorem
Contemporary Challenges 2022 (4 years)

Students count the quadratic degrees of freedom of a few toy molecules to predict their internal energy at temperature $T$.
• group Heat capacity of N$_2$

group Small Group Activity

30 min.

##### Heat capacity of N2
Contemporary Challenges 2022 (4 years)

Students sketch the temperature-dependent heat capacity of molecular nitrogen. They apply the equipartition theorem and compute the temperatures at which degrees of freedom “freeze out.”
• assignment Surface temperature of the Earth

assignment Homework

##### Surface temperature of the Earth
Temperature Radiation Thermal and Statistical Physics 2020 Calculate the temperature of the surface of the Earth on the assumption that as a black body in thermal equilibrium it reradiates as much thermal radiation as it receives from the Sun. Assume also that the surface of the Earth is a constant temperature over the day-night cycle. Use the sun's surface temperature $T_{\odot}=5800\text{K}$; and the sun's radius $R_{\odot}=7\times 10^{10}\text{cm}$; and the Earth-Sun distance of $1.5\times 10^{13}\text{cm}$.
• group Energy radiated from one oscillator

group Small Group Activity

30 min.

##### Energy radiated from one oscillator
Contemporary Challenges 2022 (4 years)

This lecture is one step in motivating the form of the Planck distribution.

Learning Outcomes