Global Arc

What do future leaders of our society need to know about physics and technology? The course is designed for non-scientists who will someday become our influential citizens and decision-makers. Whatever the field of endeavor, they will be faced with important decisions in which physics and technology play an important role. The purpose of this course is to present the key principles and the basic physical reasoning needed to interpret scientific and technical information and to make the best decisions. Topics include energy and power, atomic and subatomic matter, wave-like phenomena and light, and Einstein's theory of relativity.

What do future leaders of our society need to know about physics and technology? The course is designed for non-scientists who will someday become our influential citizens and decision-makers. Whatever the field of endeavor, they will be faced with important decisions in which physics and technology play an important role. The purpose of this course is to present the key principles and the basic physical reasoning needed to interpret scientific and technical information and to make the best decisions. Topics include energy and power, atomic and subatomic matter, wave-like phenomena and light, and Einstein's theory of relativity.

This course teaches some basic physics using music. It is designed for non-scientists who love music and would like to learn more about how it is made. Unlike traditional courses in the physics of music that start with physical concepts and then move to the musical applications of those concepts, this course develops the physical concepts and musical applications together. This approach makes the course more accessible to non-scientists and better explains the interplay of music and physics.

Classical mechanics, with emphasis on the Lagrangian method. The underlying physics is Newtonian, but with more sophisticated mathematics introduced as needed to understand more complex phenomena. Topics in this intensive course include the formalism of Lagrangian mechanics, central-force motion and scattering, rigid body motion and noninertial forces, small oscillations, coupled oscillations, and waves. Prerequisite: 103-104, or 105-106 (recommended), or permission of instructor; prior completion of MAT 201 or 203 recommended. Two 90-minute lectures.

Covers the basics of analytical mechanics, but shifts the emphasis to wave phenomena before moving on to aspects of quantum mechanics and quantum statistical mechanics. Special relativity is given greater weight than it usually is in PHY 205. Offers students a path toward the physics concentration that is less intensive than PHY 205 and more accessible to students with less mathematical background. Prerequisites: PHY103-104, or PHY105-106; one 200-level math course; or permission of instructor. Two 90-minute lectures.

An introduction to quantum mechanics, the physics of atoms, electrons, photons, and other elementary particles. Topics include state functions and the probability interpretation, the Schrödinger equation, the uncertainty principle, the eigenvalue problem, operators and their algebras, angular momentum and spin, perturbation theory, and the hydrogen atom. Prerequisites: PHY 106, PHY 205, or PHY 207 and MAT 203 or MAT 217, and MAT 204 or MAT 218 (MAT 204/MAT 218 can be taken concurrently); or instructor's permission. Two 90-minute lectures.

Introduction to Python coding and its application to data collection, analysis and statistical inference. The course consists of weekly hands-on labs that introduce the students to the Linux coding environment with Jupyter and Python modules. Labs involve configuring a Raspberry Pi to interface with hardware sensors to collect interrupt-driven measurements. Multivariate discriminators and confidence levels for hypothesis testing will be applied to data samples. Labs are drawn from different forms of sensors data from accelerometers and photodetectors to external sources including radio-astronomy and XRF analysis of Art Museum paintings.

This seminar introduces fundamental techniques of electronics and instrumentation. The course consists of weekly hands-on labs that introduce the students to the fascinating world of electronics. We begin with learning how to build circuits and probe their behavior and then explore what can be done to create instrumentation and make measurements. We start with analog electronics and then proceed with programmable digital logic with FPGAs. The final project involves Machine Learning implemented in FPGAs, a glimpse of what modern electronics can do.

An introduction to topics in theoretical physics, including blackbody radiation, zero point energy, path integral quantum mechanics, differential geometry and black holes, the quark model and continuous symmetry groups, and aspects of string theory. Each topic will be treated in a two-week unit with readings specifically prepared for the course as well as standard texts.

We will cover the physical principles behind the production, availability, usage, and storage of energy for society. We will explore sources such as fission, fusion, solar, geothermal, hydro, wind, and fossil fuels in the context of simple physical models of the earth and its atmosphere. Our study will draw on many aspects of physics-- classical mechanics, thermodynamics, statistical physics, particle physics, electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, fluids which will be developed as needed at an introductory level throughout the course.