Course Overview

Course Info

Course Lecture Notes - daily class notes located here!
Course Canvas
PH 315 Syllabus (full length version)

Textbooks

Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air (SEWHA)
Six Ideas, Unit T (OSU login required)
Six Ideas, Unit Q (OSU login required)

Homework and LaTeX

Writing answers to HW questions
9 Rules for Typography in Physics
A quick guide to LaTeX

Gradescope (homework submission site)
315 Homework Template (from LA Alex!)

Help Hours

Wednesday 2-3: Alex in 304F
Thursday 9-10: Alex in 304F
Thursday 2-3: Patti in 485
Friday 3-4: Patti in 485

Term Project Info

Introduction to Term Project

Week 0 Wednesday (9/23)

Introduction

Lecture notes for today

SEWHA Ch 1 - Motivations
SEWHA Ch 2 - Balance Sheet
Optional: Lecture by David MacKay, the author of SEWHA.

Hydroelectric Power from a Coarse-grained Model

Columbia river gorge

SEWHA Ch 8 - Hydroelectricity

Week 0 Friday (9/25)

Coarse-grained Models

Rain Power Estimate

Excerpt from "Scale" by Geoffrey West
Magnitude Analysis by Simon Clark (4min30sec)

Homework 0 (w/ Solution)
Homework 0 (pdf)

Classroom Norms

Classroom norms

Week 1 Monday (9/28)

Energy for Transportation - A Coarse-grained Model

A coarse-grained model for transportation
Car efficiency

SEWHA Ch 3 - Cars
SEWHA Appendix A: Cars II

Week 1 Wednesday (9/30)

Models for Transportation

TEDx Talk by Sanjoy Mahajan (aerodynamics)

Week 1 Friday (10/2)

Rolling Resistance

Conservation of Energy: First Law of Thermodynamics

Homework 1 (w/ Solution)
Homework 1 (pdf)

Week 2 Monday (10/5)

Wind Energy - A Coarse-grained Model

Wind energy

SEWHA Ch 4: Wind
SEWHA Appendix B: Wind II

Week 2 Wednesday (10/7)

Uncertainty Analysis

Propagating uncertainty
Uncertainty in air density

Week 2 Friday (10/9)

Intro to Nuclear Physics

Six Ideas, Unit Q Chapter 13.1

Homework 2 (w/ Solution)
Homework 2 (pdf)

Size of the Nucleus

Six Ideas, Unit Q Chapter 13.2

Week 3 Wednesday (10/14)

Mass of Composite Object

Six Ideas, Unit Q Chapter 13.4

Week 3 Monday (10/12)

Binding Energy of Nucleus

Six Ideas, Unit Q Chapter 13.3 and 13.4

Intro to Term Project

Introduction to Term Project

Week 3 Friday (10/16)

Rutherford Scattering

Six Ideas, Unit Q Chapter 13.5 and 13.6

Homework 3 (w/ Solution)
Homework 3 (pdf)

Nuclear Fission Reactors and Fusion

Six Ideas, Unit Q Chapter 15.4, 15.5, and 15.6
Nuclear Fusion video from Kurzgesagt

Week 4 Monday (10/19)

Introduction to Entropy

Dropping hot metal into water

Six Ideas, Unit T Chapter 1.1 thru 1.5
How entropy powers the Earth by MinutePhysics
The most misunderstood concept in physics by Veritasium

Week 4 Wednesday (10/21)

Multiplicity in an Einstein Solid

Irreversibility
Introducing entropy

Six Ideas, Unit T Chapter 2.1 thru 2.5

Second Law of Thermodynamics

Six Ideas, Unit T Chapter 2.7, 3.1 thru 3.3

Week 4 Friday (10/23)

Midterm 1

Midterm taken during class time
No homework due this week

Practice midterm (not to be turned in) (w/ Solution)
Practice midterm (not to be turned in) (pdf)

Week 5 Monday (10/26)

Defining Temperature

Temperature and Entropy

Six Ideas, Unit T Chapter 1.7 and 3.4

Heat Transfer and Work

Six Ideas, Unit T Chapter 8.2 thru 8.4

Week 5 Wednesday (10/28)

Heat Engines

Six Ideas, Unit T Chapter 9.1 thru 9.5
Explanation of Stirling Engine

Week 5 Friday (10/30)

Equipartition Theorem

Equipartition theorem
Applying the equipartition theorem

Six Ideas, Unit T Chapter 5.4

Homework 5 (w/ Solution)
Homework 5 (pdf)

Week 6 Monday (11/2)

Heat Capacity and Energy Quantization

Quantum mechanical correction to the equipartition theorem

Six Ideas, Unit T Chapter 5.1 thru 5.3, 7.6

Week 6 Wednesday (11/4)

Class Canceled (Instructor Sick)

Week 6 Friday (11/6)

Wavefunctions

Six Ideas, Unit Q Chapter 1.1 thru 1.3

Homework 6 (w/ Solution)
Homework 6 (pdf)

Week 7 Monday (11/9)

Wave Equation

Six Ideas, Unit Q Chapter 2.1 thru 2.3
Derivation of the Wave Equation by Walter Lewin

Week 7 Wednesday (11/11)

Holiday (Veteran's Day)

Week 7 Friday (11/13)

Wind Instruments

Six Ideas, Unit Q Chapter 1.4
Harmonic Series in Spectrograms by Dan Reynolds

Homework 7 (w/ Solution)
Homework 7 (pdf)

Term Project Peer Review

Week 8 Monday (11/16)

Week 8 Wednesday (11/18)

Week 8 Friday (11/20)

Midterm 2

Topic/Day

Activities

Resources

Homework Due