Using Canvas Discussions

    • assignment QF Project and Reflection

      assignment Homework

      QF Project and Reflection
      Quantum Fundamentals 2023 Submit your video on Canvas. After you submit your video, complete the reflection questions for the course on Gradescope.
    • assignment Photo Permission

      assignment Homework

      Photo Permission
      Quantum Fundamentals 2023 (2 years)

      In the "Quizzes" section of Canvas, please fill out the "Photo Permission Form" to indicate what information you'd like me to post about you on the Physics Department Website.

      Faculty & Students use this site to learn who is taking Paradigms and to network.

    • assignment Symmetry Arguments for Gauss's Law

      assignment Homework

      Symmetry Arguments for Gauss's Law
      Static Fields 2023 (5 years)

      Instructions for 2022: You will need to complete this assignment in a 15 minute appointment on Zoom or in person with one of the members of the teaching team between 1/21 and 10 pm on 1/26. Here is a link to a sign-up page.

      You are required to watch a sample video for how to make symmetry arguments here. As demonstrated in the video you should bring with you to the meeting a cylinder, an observer, and a vector.

      Use good symmetry arguments to find the possible direction for the electric field due to a charged wire. Also, use good symmetry arguments to find the possible functional dependence of the electric field due to a charged wire. Rather than writing this up to turn in, you should find a member of the teaching team and make the arguments to them verbally.

    • group Sequential Stern-Gerlach Experiments

      group Small Group Activity

      10 min.

      Sequential Stern-Gerlach Experiments
      Quantum Fundamentals 2023 (3 years)
    • assignment Series Convergence

      assignment Homework

      Series Convergence

      Power Series Sequence (E&M)

      Static Fields 2023 (6 years)

      Recall that, if you take an infinite number of terms, the power series for \(\sin z\) and the function itself \(f(z)=\sin z\) are equivalent representations of the same thing for all real numbers \(z\), (in fact, for all complex numbers \(z\)). This is what it means for the power series to “converge” for all \(z\). Not all power series converge for all values of the argument of the function. More commonly, a power series is only a valid, equivalent representation of a function for some more restricted values of \(z\), EVEN IF YOUR KEEP AN INFINITE NUMBER OF TERMS. The technical name for this idea is convergence--the series only "converges" to the value of the function on some restricted domain, called the “interval” or “region of convergence.”

      Find the power series for the function \(f(z)=\frac{1}{1+z^2}\). Then, using the Geogebra applet from class as a model, or some other computer algebra system like Mathematica or Maple, explore the convergence of this series. Where does your series for this new function converge? Can you tell anything about the region of convergence from the graphs of the various approximations? Print out a plot and write a brief description (a sentence or two) of the region of convergence. You may need to include a lot of terms to see the effect of the region of convergence. You may also need to play with the values of \(z\) that you plot. Keep adding terms until you see a really strong effect!

      Note: As a matter of professional ettiquette (or in some cases, as a legal copyright requirement), if you use or modify a computer program written by someone else, you should always acknowledge that fact briefly in whatever you write up. Say something like: “This calculation was based on a (name of software package) program titled (title) originally written by (author) copyright (copyright date).”

    • face Statistical Analysis of Stern-Gerlach Experiments
    • keyboard Electrostatic potential of four point charges

      keyboard Computational Activity

      120 min.

      Electrostatic potential of four point charges
      Computational Physics Lab II 2023 (2 years)

      electrostatic potential python

      Students write python programs to compute and visualize the potential due to four point charges. For students with minimal programming ability and no python experience, this activity can be a good introduction to writing code in python using numpy and matplotlib.
    • keyboard Position operator

      keyboard Computational Activity

      120 min.

      Position operator
      Computational Physics Lab II 2022

      quantum mechanics operator matrix element particle in a box eigenfunction

      Students find matrix elements of the position operator \(\hat x\) in a sinusoidal basis. This allows them to express this operator as a matrix, which they can then numerically diagonalize and visualize the eigenfunctions.
  • Static Fields 2023 The question is meant to get you used to using the Canvas Discussion Board. Please go to the course Canvas page and find the Discussions tab on the left hand side. Find the Discussion titled Random and add one of the following:
    1. A random physics fact.
    2. One thing you like about physics.
    3. One question you have for Jeff.