group Small Group Activity

120 min.

Projectile with Linear Drag
Theoretical Mechanics (4 years)

Projectile Motion Drag Forces Newton's 2nd Law Separable Differential Equations

Students consider projectile motion of an object that experiences drag force that in linear with the velocity. Students consider the horizontal motion and the vertical motion separately. Students solve Newton's 2nd law as a differential equation.

assignment Homework

Differentials of Two Variables
Static Fields 2023 (8 years) Find the total differential of the following functions:
  1. \(y=3u^2 + 4\cos 3v\)
  2. \(y=3uv\)
  3. \(y=3u^2\cos wv\)
  4. \(y=u\cos(3v^2-2)\)

assignment Homework

Differentials of One Variable
Static Fields 2023 (6 years) Find the total differential of the following functions:
  1. \(y=3x^2 + 4\cos 2x\)
  2. \(y=3x^2\cos kx\) (where \(k\) is a constant)
  3. \(y=\frac{\cos 7x}{x^2}\)
  4. \(y=\cos(3x^2-2)\)

keyboard Computational Activity

120 min.

Kinetic energy
Computational Physics Lab II 2022

finite difference hamiltonian quantum mechanics particle in a box eigenfunctions

Students implement a finite-difference approximation for the kinetic energy operator as a matrix, and then use numpy to solve for eigenvalues and eigenstates, which they visualize.

face Lecture

120 min.

Entropy and Temperature
Thermal and Statistical Physics 2020

paramagnet entropy temperature statistical mechanics

These lecture notes for the second week of Thermal and Statistical Physics involve relating entropy and temperature in the microcanonical ensemble, using a paramagnet as an example. These notes include a few small group activities.

face Lecture

120 min.

Boltzmann probabilities and Helmholtz
Thermal and Statistical Physics 2020

ideal gas entropy canonical ensemble Boltzmann probability Helmholtz free energy statistical mechanics

These notes, from the third week of Thermal and Statistical Physics cover the canonical ensemble and Helmholtz free energy. They include a number of small group activities.

face Lecture

120 min.

Phase transformations
Thermal and Statistical Physics 2020

phase transformation Clausius-Clapeyron mean field theory thermodynamics

These lecture notes from the ninth week of Thermal and Statistical Physics cover phase transformations, the Clausius-Clapeyron relation, mean field theory and more. They include a number of small group activities.