Note:
more to be added as we go through the quarter. Your contributions are welcome
(send me an email)
Physics Applets Walter Fendt
Physics Applets Phet
Surendranath applets
Surendranath main page
How we use MODELS in science
In our first lecture we talked about some of the history of how we learned about the geocentric vs. the heliocentric universe. Here is the powerpoint. During the presentation I sometimes talk about models and how we use them in science. For example, even though we now know the electrons do not orbit their atom's nucleus like planets orbiting a star (quantum mechanics talks about probabilities more than fixed distances), we still use this model to do a lot of calculations (e.g. an electron gets excited and jumps to a higher 'orbit' or energy level). The model still works well for a lot of applications and is certainly more intuitive, so why not use it when it is 'good enough'? Here's a link that explores this idea and gives a few more examples.
Universal Gravitation (Chapter 13)
1. This link allows you to explore universal gravitation. Follow the link, then select 'universal gravitation'. Once the applet is open, select 'student notes' at the top and follow the instructions.
2. Phet: The first link only considers the motion of the smaller object and assumes that the mass of the bigger object is much greater than that of the smaller object. What happens if we consider the motion of both objects? You can explore this with this demo.
3. Geostationary Satellites (and other)
4. Demonstrate gravitation in your basement and a critique, another youtube
5. Some information on orbits of manmade objects
6. Links on Foucault's pendulum: youtube intro, cartoon intro, math
7. Cavendish Experiment: Wikipedia
8. We are not covering relativistic effects in this course but this demo is too neat to be ignored :).
Electric Charge
1. Ripping tape off a spool produces x-rays.
2. Wint O Green Lifesaver video 1 video 2
3. The 'Group Hug', some info on its history
Electric Field
1. E field of uniformly charged finite line of charge using trigonometric substitution
EM applet
The electric field of a quadrupole with binomial approximation
Taylor Series review here
An excellent math website with online notes, by Paul Dawkins
MIT lecture series: a program that provides actual video-taped lectures and material of MIT classes on the web for free. the course list is huge... and about 100 or so of the courses are available in video. Find info here.
MS
Electric fields around a knitting needle is space!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qHrBhgwq__Q
Electric Potential
Faraday's Cage Video MIT Lewin
Blue and Red Man fighting High Voltage- High Frequency War.
Electric Current - Water Analogy Harrison animated Hyperphysics
A link that nicely explains an electric generator. This link was suggested by students from Pinewood Elementary School and their teacher, Laura Tice (Thank you, everyone!)
Last updated:
January 17, 2018
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