Course Materials 

Back

Review

• Review I Handout, Sample Exam I Questions
• Review II Handout,
• Review III Handout,
• Review IV Handout
• Review V Handout
• Blank Exams - I, II, III, IV
• Timeline of the Universe (Left Half, Right Half) - from my other class
• Last word - Listen to Dr. Susskind on Grokking Modern Physics

Online Notes in Physics

• Modern Physics Notes - Michael Fowler
• Heat and Thermodynamics - Michael Fowler
• Notes at RPI
• Notes from Michael Richmond
• Dr. Herman's book on Fourier and Complex Analysis
• Introduction to Modern Physics - Dr. Herman's Open Office slides - PPT Version
• General Relativity Intro

Videos

• Leonard Susskind's Modern Physics on YouTube
• Videos on Statistical Mechanics

Classical Physics

• Simple Pendulum
• Phase Space Plot for Pendulum
• William Rowan Hamilton
• The Tangled Tale of Phase Space
• Maple Worksheet - Normal Modes (download first)
• Derivation of Wave Equation for Vibrating String
• Vibrating String
• Fourier Series
  • Videos on Fourier Series - Donny Lee

  • Fourier Series and Waves

  • Listen to Fourier Series

  • Fourier Series Applet

• Special Trigonometric Bases - Harvey Mudd College

• Products of Trigonometric Functions

• Solution of the Heat Equation
• Boltzmann Distribution, Images of Distribution
• Equipartition of Energy
• Maxwell's Equations put to song
• Maxwells Equations - #1, #2, #3

Problems Encountered

• Specific Heat of Solids
• Blackbody Radiation - notes
• Planck's solution to ultraviolet catastrophe - notes
• Wien's Displacement Law
• Wolframalpha - plot Planck distribution

Quantum Theory

• Schrödinger Equation
• Quantum Mechanics Explained in 16 mintues
• Richard Feynman on Quantum Mechanics -
• Donny Lee's Lectures on QM
• Particle in a Box
• Potential Barrier
• Potential Barriers and Tunneling Applet
• Harmonic Oscillator
• Table of Spherical Harmonics
• Images of Spherical Harmonics
• Hydrogen Atom Orbital Viewer
• Hydrogen Wave Function Simulation

Angular Momentum and Atomic Physics

• Vector Model for Orbital Angular Momentum and at Hyperphysics
• Electron Spin
• Zeeman Effect, Computations for Normal and Anomalous Zeeman
• Total Angular Momentum and the Spin-Orbit Interaction
• L-S Coupling
• Electron Configuration, Video with Hund's Rule
• The Periodic Table
• NIST Electronic Configuration Table
• David's Whizzy Periodic Table - Applet
• Quantum Number Drag - Video

Nuclear Physics

• The Nuclear Wallchart
• Beta Decay
• Electron Capture
• Deuteron
• Nuclear Physics Topics
• Liquid Drop Model, The Weizsaecker Formula
• Semi-Empirical Mass Formula, Formula plus Binding Energy Plot
• Types of Accelerators
• Accelerator List
• E. O. Lawrence and the Cyclotron
• Cloud Chamber Videos, Wikipedia - Wilson cloud chamber
• Nuclear Chemistry - discusses some history on radioactivity

Particle Physics

• The Standard Model - CERN
• - A Lunchbox's Guide
• The Quark Model
• The LHC (Large Hadron Collider)
  • Wikipedia Entry
  • CERN Page
  • Large Hadron Rap
• The LHC YouTube
  • LHC Search for Higgs (1/3)

Special Relativity

• Galileo's Parable of the Ship
• Special Relativity - Brief Overview
• Dummies guide to Special Relativity
• Introduction to Relativity
• The Lightcone - Intro to Relativity
• Relativity Lecture Notes - With Spacetime Diagrams
• Relativity Notes - Math Intense
• Think Like Einstein
• How Did Einstein Discover Relativity?
• YouTube
  • Leonard Susskind's Special Relativity Lectures
  • Lorentz Transformation - Yale U
  • Twin Paradox
  • Carl Sagan on Special Relativity
  • Minkowski Diagrams
  • Einstein Explain's E=mc²
• Dr. Herman's Notes - from GR Course
  • Simple Review
  • Minkowski Diagrams Paper
  • Figures from paper
    • Boost Axes,
    • Simultaneous Events in S
    • Time Dilation, fixed in S
    • Length Contraction, fixed in S
    • Time Dilation, fixed in S'
    • Length Contraction, fixed in S'
• Interactive Minkowski Diagram
• Lorentz Transformation
• Twin Paradox Sites
  • Asymmetry of Diagrams
  • Wikipedia
  • Various Resolutions
  • Yet another explanation
• Einstein's Legacy - Dr. Herman's old course

General Relativity 

• Dr. Herman's GR Class
• Cambridge Relativity
• The Light Cone
• Spacetime
• Spacetime Wrinkles
  • Movies from the Edge of Spacetime
  • Fulfilling Einstein's Dream
• The Elegant Universe
• Spacetime 101
• GR for Students
• Gravitational Waves
  • LISA http://lisa.jpl.nasa.gov/
  • LIGO http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/
• Gravitational Redshift, and at hyperphysics
• Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker Metric
• Summary of Formulae for RW Metric

Black Holes

• Smallest Black Hole
• Black Holes and Neutron Stars
• Virtual Trips to Black Holes and Neutron Stars
• Black Holes - Cambridge
• Black Holes FAQ
• Wikipedia Black Hole
• Relativity and Black Holes - Eastern Tennessee State University
• Falling into a Black Hole Movies
• Black Hole Thermodynamics
• YouTube Videos
  • Pulsars and Neutron Stars (4:23 min)
  • Black Holes, White Dwarfs, and Other Dead Stars (9 min), Part 2 (6:41 min)
  • Extreme Physics of Black Holes (8 min), Part 2 (7 min)
  • Stephen Hawking, Black Holes and The Creator (10 min)
  • Black Holes, Neutron Stars, White Dwarfs, Space and Time - Simulation
  • Another Simulation
  • Cosmic Holes (1 of 5)
  • General Relativity: Cosmic Tunnels / Worm Holes
  • Supermassive Black Holes (1/5)

Top