| Skills |
"Modern Physics" is in quotes because this topic is nearly 100 years old. This unit is supposed to encompas the ideas of our physical world as they were expressed after the turn of the 20th Century. There is a common miscoception about the momentus events that lead to the modification of the existing physical models of the 19th Century. Physics did undergo a vast improvement but it wasn't overturned. The development of Quantum Mechanics and Relativity helped us understand the physical processes of the very small and cosmic scales respectively but classical mechanics is still valid for most of our experience. Classial rules still hold and, indeed, their principals are essential for the foundation of modern physics.
With quantum mechanics and relativity, however, some of our conventional, intuitive way at looking at the universe gets turned around. So, as Cypher said in the Matrix: "Buckle your seatbelt, Dorothy... 'cause Kansas is going bye-bye!"
| Overviews |
| History of Quantum Model of Physics. A very brief and taylored introduction to the revolution around 1900. |
Particle Adventure An exploration of subatomic physics and the "fundamental" particles that make up all matter as we know it. |
| Three Failures of Classical Physics. Where classical physics broke down and why it needed fixing. |
Physics 2000 This is a gerneral reference to the whole topic. Many of the links are conversational dialogs where you explore the notions presented in this unit. |
| Quantum Mechanics. A slide show of the overall elements that brought about the need for QM. |
|
| Photoelectric Effect |
| Phototube Here you can reproduce Philipp von Lenard's famous experiment with light and ejected electrons. This one illustrates the details of the experiment. |
Photoelectric Effect This one presents fewer details about the experiment but gives more complete "data" for your own analysis. |
|
|
| Blackbody Radiation |
| Horseshoe What happens when you heat an object up? It gets hot! That is not all that happens. Try it and see. |
Radiation Density Curve Take the light from a heated object and put it through a spectrometer and this is what you get. |
| Cavity RadiationA more complete description of blackbodies and why this was a problem at the turn of the 19th century. |
|
| Spectroscopy |
| Emission Spectrum A shockwave simulation of an emission spectrum from a sample of gass of your choice. See if you can match the transitions. |
Absorbtion Spectrum Sort of the inverse of the emission spectrum but it is important to understand the difference. |
|
|
| Wave Particle Duality |
| Diffraction Grating This is a java applet which allows you to explore the effects of a double slit diffraction. You have to understand the concept behind this if you are to appreciate the conundrum confronting physicists when they replaced the source of light with a beam of electrons and got the same effect |
Particle Adventure An exploration of subatomic physics and the "fundamental" particles that make up all matter as we know it. |
| Particle Diffraction You tried it with light, now try it with particles. |
|
Some of the links below don't yet work because there isn't or I haven't written a good reference yet.
| Quantum Wierdness |
| Schrödingers Cat This is where we really leave Kansas. |
Heisenberg Uncertainty Principal "Not only does God play with dice, he throws them where they can't be seen!" - Hawkings |
|
|
|
