Modern Physics (BASI-141)

The course “Modern Physics” deals with the revolutionary new developments that physics underwent during the early 20th century. It is an experimental physics course that largely focuses on a number of key experiments which made the limitations of classical physics clear, and which provided the basis for the new relativity theory of Einstein and quantum physics. The level is generally introductory, preparing the students for the full Quantum Mechanics course which is taught in the 4th semester.

More specifically, the course aims to:
• make the student aware of the fact that physics is a science that continuously develops,
• describe the historical context and development of physics in the early 20th century, with a series of observations being reported that could not be explained by the classical theories, and which thus led to the development of the special relativity theory and quantum mechanics,
• teach the student to apply the principles and laws of modern physics to solve problems, and to demonstrate how this approach has led to a number of technologies which we today take for granted but which would not be possible without the new understanding that we today refer to as “modern physics”.

Main course book

• This year we use the book “Modern Physics” by Paul A. Tipler and Ralph A. Llewellyn (Freeman - Palgrave Macmillan) as a basis, but its use will be discontinued in the future. We will during this year’s course frequently complement the Tipler-Llewellyn book, using the following books. They provide a considerably more stimulating as well as more historically correct description of the development of modern physics.

• The Feynman Lectures on Physics (Addison-Wesley)
  Richard Feynman, Robert Leighton and Matthew Sands
• Introducing Quantum Theory (Totem books)
  J. P. McEvoy and Oscar Zarate
• Physics for Poets (Contemporary books)
  Robert March

Fall semester 2014
The class starts on Tuesday September 16th 2014 at 14:00 in room BS.1.04 (Campus Limpertsberg). The key content is as follows:

1. The Michelson-Morley experiment and special relativity theory
2. Two key elements of statistical physics and thermodynamics: the Maxwell velocity distribution and the Boltzmann entropy law
3. Black-body radiation and the suggestion to quantise energy
4. The photoelectric effect and the quantization of light into photons
5. X-rays and the Compton effect
6. Line spectra, the Balmer series and the Rutherford-Bohr atomic model
7. More quantum numbers, electron spin and the Pauli exclusion principle, the Stern-Gerlach experiment and the explanation of the periodic system
8. Wave-particle dualism and the de Broglie matter waves
9. The uncertainty relation and Heisenberg’s matrix mechanics
10. The Schrödinger equation, as it was originally introduced and with Born’s probability interpretation
11. Dirac’s unification of quantum mechanics
12. Particle in a box, expectation values, harmonic oscillator
13. Angular momentum, hydrogen atom wave functions, the Stern-Gerlach experiment, spin-orbit coupling

A list of learning objectives can be downloaded here and the most current version of the syllabus is here.

The slides I show can be downloaded as pdf files (after each class) here (only for registered students).

Welcome !

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