Physics 102 - Fall 2009- University of Rochester
Visions of the Multiverse
News Important links Prestentations Contact info Lectures Problem sets Solution sets Recitations Reading
spiral galaxy in Andromeda, rollover is Scott Adams' take on the multiverse
We're done. Travel safely and have a great holiday!
Ponder this:
"22,000 days. It's not a lot. It's all you got. 22,000 days."
- The Moody Blues , in Long Distance Voyager released in 1981"Understanding is a lot like sex. It's got a practical purpose, but that's not why people do it normally."
- Frank Oppenheimer
Sir Isaac Newton
Listen to the ballad of Sir Isaac Newton (found here). Our man Isaac invented much of the basic physics background we'll discuss. Before that he did backup vocals for Bon Jovi.
Past exams (scroll to bottom, P100 exams are similar)
Relevant books for this course on reserve in the Physics & Astronomy library
Exam 1 grade distribution (mean grade = 80)
Exam 2 grade distribution (mean grade = 82)
Final exam distribution (mean grade = 78)
A few potentially useful links:
The physics classroom (online tutorial on mechanics)
Fear of physics - another online site with visuals that can help you make sense of some things
Bored? Check these out (trust me ... these are cool even if you aren't into physics):
FSU magnet lab powers of ten ... perspectives on size scales.
Steve Manly, Department of Physics and Astronomy
reach via email: steven.manly@rochester.edu
reach via phone: 585-275-8473
reach via feet: B&L 203E
Manly's office hours: Tuesday 2-3 pm and Wednesday 11 am - noon. If that doesn't work get in touch with me for an appointment ... feel free to drop by without an appt. with the understanding that I might in the middle of something else and need to set up a better time to meet.
Recitation leader:
Wei Lai, weilai@pas.rochester.edu
Recitation times:
Monday 3:30-5:30 pm, Hylan 102
Tuesday 7-9 pm, B&L 208
Friday 2-4 pm, Hylan 105
Reading for week of Sept. 2:
Reading in Hobson – Chapter 1 (p. 2-25) and sections 2.4 and 2.5 (p. 37-41)
Read chapter on "The Nature of Science" in Science for All Americans online (from the American Association for the Advancement of Science) at http://www.project2061.org/publications/sfaa/online/chap1.htmReading for week of Sept. 7:
Reading in Hobson - Chapter 3 (p. 52-66)
In reading folder on BlackBoard -
S. Manly, "Manly's Populist Multiverse Taxonomy"
M. Tegmark, "Shut up and Calculate"
M. Singham, "The Copernican Myths"Reading for week of Sept. 14:
Reading in Hobson - Chapter 4 (p. 70-84), Sections 8.4-8.5 (p.-171-174), 8.8 (p. 181-184)
Spend some time looking over the section on Newton's Laws on the HowStuffWorks website at http://science.howstuffworks.com/newton-law-of-motion.htm
Check out the short (2 minute) video on Newton's Law of Gravitation at
http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/19121-exploring-gravity-the-law-of-universal-gravitation-video.htm
In reading folder on BlackBoard -
Barrow, "Living in a Simulated Universe"Reading for week of Sept. 21:
Reading in Hobson - Sections 5.1-5.2 (p. 90-98), Chapter 10 (p. 220-244)
Read the short story "The Library of Babel" by Jorge Luis Borges at
http://jubal.westnet.com/hyperdiscordia/library_of_babel.html
In reading folder on BlackBoard -
Excerpt from Zweerink, "Who's Afraid of the Multiverse?"Reading for week of Sept. 28:
Reading in Hobson - Sections 8.1-8.3(p. 162-171), 8.8(p. 181-184), 9.1-9.4(p. 190-200), Chapter 13 (p. 298-316)
Read/look through Nick Strobel's Astronomy Notes section on electromagnetic radiation at
http://www.astronomynotes.com/light/chindex.htmReading for week of Oct. 5:
Reading in Hobson - Chapter 14 (p. 320-348)
In reading folder on BlackBoard -
Yam, "Everyday Einstein"Reading for week of Oct. 12:
Reading in Hobson - none
In reading folder on BlackBoard -
Tegmark and Wheeler, "100 Years of the Quantum"Reading for week of Oct. 19:
Reading in Hobson - Chapter 2 (p. 29-46), Sections 8.4-8.7 (p. 171-180), Chapter 15 (p. 354-376)
Spend a few minutes looking over the very different characteristics of the elements in this interactive periodic chart
Check out this Youtube video on quantum mechanics http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KN6a8inOF8
Read the HowStuffWorks article on quantum mechanics at http://science.howstuffworks.com/quantum-suicide.htm
In reading folder on BlackBoard -
Byrne, "The Many Worlds of Hugh"Reading for week of Oct. 26:
Reading in Hobson - Chapter 16 (p. 380-404)
Here is some reading on what I call the (non-scientific) multiverse of wishful thinking:
Wikipedia article on the quantum mind/body problem
Wikipedia article on the Law of Attraction
Scan this webpage entitled The Law of Attraction Quantum Physics for Beginners (I suggest you don't poke around on the links and videos since I just pulled the link up with a google search
An "ezine article" on the law of attraction and quantum physics
The Secret website Just do a quick look. No need for a detailed inspection.
Wikipedia article on The Secret
Wikipedia article on What the Bleep do we Know
A bit of a critique of What the Bleep do we Know from the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Reading for week of Nov. 2:
Reading in Hobson - 5.1-5.6 (p. 90-110), Chapter 18 (p. 439-466)
Explore The Particle Adventure (particularly the section on the standard model)
Check out the HowStuffWorks article on nuclear bombs and the HowStuffWorks article on nuclear power
Read the short article What is fusion? by General Atomics
The following are for fun (not required reading for P102):
Cool films of nuclear blasts if you are into that kind of thing - from the Nat'l Nuclear Security Administration
If you are interested, here is a (31 MB file) short book on Inertial Confinement Fusion from the Laboratory for Laser Energetics
You might have fun poking around the website for the ITER project (International thermonuclear experimental reactor)
Reading for week of Nov. 9:
Read the Wikipedia article on the anthropic principle
Read "Is the Universe Fine Tuned for us?" by Victor Stenger - link is to draft on Stenger's website (final copy published in Why Intelligent Design Fails: A Sceintific Critique of the New Creationism, M. Young, T. Edis ed., Rutgers Univ. Press, 2004)
You might enjoy reading the Wikipedia article on stellar evolutionReading for week of Nov. 16:
Read the the Science News article "The Status Quark" by Siegfried found in your reading folder on BlackBoard
Check out the LHC rap video on youtube
Check out the Fermilab "Accelerating Science" video - a bit less happening than the LHC video, but more informative
Look over the Inquiring Minds section of the Fermilab websiteReading for week of Nov. 30:
Reading in Hobson - Chapter 11 (p. 248-269)
In the reading folder on BlackBoard -
Scientific American article entitled "The Universe" by Michael Turner
Astronomy magazine article entitled "How the Big Bang Forged the First Elements" by UR's own Adam Frank
Astronomy magazine article entitled "Seeing the Dawn of Time" by Adam Frank
Scientific American article entitled "The Cosmic Symphony" by Wayne Hu and Martin WhiteReading for week of Dec. 7:
Discover magazine article entitled "Before the Big Bang" by Michael Lemonick
Discover magazine article entitled "Is the Universe Really Made of Math?" by Adam Frank (interview with Max Tegmark)
Check out the basics of string theory on the "Official String Theory Website" created by Patricia Schwarz
In the reading folder on BlackBoard -
Scientific American article entitled "The String Theory Landscape" by Raphael Bousso and Joseph Polchinski
NY Times article entitled "Dark, Perhaps Forever" by Dennis Overbye
Lect 1 - September 2, 2009 - Introduction to class (see syllabus too), start of multiverse taxonomies
Lect 2 - September 9, 2009 - More on multiverse taxonomy, human bias, scales in universe, nature of science, kinematic variables
Lect 3 - September 14, 2009 - Newton's Laws
Lect 4 - September 16, 2009 - Introduction to the gravitational force and electric force, Fields , Start of special relativity , Coulomb force java applet
Lect 5 - September 21, 2009 - review of "field" concept and discussion of reading, special relativity, Electric fields java applet
Lect 6 - September 23, 2009 - special relativity, magnetic force, Maxwell's equations
Lect 7 - September 28, 2009 - waves, electromagnetic radiation, properties of light, start of quantum mechanics
Lect 8 - September 30, 2009 - Particle nature of light, wave nature of matter, Bohr atom , Audio file (16 kbps , 64 kbps)
Lect 9 - October 7, 2009 - Bohr atom, Schrodinger's equation, quantum mechanics, chemistry
Lect 10 - October 12, 2009 - Quantum weirdness, Many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics
Lect 11 - October 19, 2009 - Uncertainty Principle
Lect 12 - October 21, 2009 - Nuclear model of atom, radioactivity, radioactive decay
Lect 13 - October 26, 2009 - nuclear binding energy curve, fission, fusion
Lect 14 - October 28, 2009 - Stellar life cycle
Lect 15 - November 2, 2009 - Particle physics (PDF), Particle physics (ppt), Particle physics 2, (mp3 audio 16 kbps) (mp3 audio 64 kbps), LHC video 1, LHC video 2
Lect 16 - November 4, 2009 - Science Channel show entitled "Parallel Universes" (link is in BlackBoard in the "Course Materials" section, lasts 1 hour)
Lect 17 - November 9, 2009 - Particle physics, earth's place in cosmos, Principle of Mediocrity, Anthropic Arinciple
Lect 18 - November 11, 2009 - General theory of relativity, start of cosmology
Lect 19 - November 16, 2009 - Hot big bang theory, supporting evidence & problems
Lect 20 - November 18, 2009 - Inflationary cosmology, beyond-the-horizon multiverse, cyclic big bang multiverse
Lect 21 - November 30, 2009 - Bubble multiverse, Fecund multiverse, dark matter, detailed study of CMB
Lect 22 - December 2, 2009 - String theory
Lect 23 - December 7, 2009 - The cosmic landscape, mathematical universe hypothesis
Lect 24 - December 9, 2009 - Multiverse taxonomy reprise, coming soon in the multiverse
Problem set 1 - due at end of class on September 16
Problem set 2 - due at end of class on September 23
Problem set 3 - due at end of class on September 30
Problem set 4 - due at end of class on October 7
Problem set 5 - due at end of class on October 21
Problem set 6 - due at end of class on October 28
Problem set 7 - due at end of class on November 4 (turn in on Nov. 9)
Problem set 8 - due at end of class on November 11
Problem set 9 - due at end of class on November 18
Recitation 1 - for week starting September 14, 2009
Recitation 2 - for week starting September 21, 2009
Recitation 3 - for week starting September 28, 2009
Recitation 4 - for week starting October 7, 2009 (this recitation cycle runs Tues, Fri, Mon due to no classes on Oct. 5)
Recitation 5 - for week starting October 20, 2009 (runs Tues - Fri - Mon)
Recitation 6 - for week starting October 27, 2009
Recitation 7 - for week starting November 3, 2009
Recitation 8 - for week starting November 10, 2009
Recitation 9 - for week starting November 17, 2009
Recitation 10 - for week starting December 1, 2009