Physics

This page is respectfully dedicated to the best teachers I have ever known: Eugene Wigner, Charles Kittel, Roy Glauber and Hermann von Helmholtz

This area is arranged according to the headings in the list below. Please select the link to your area of interest to see the articles under that heading. Physics is also found in the Optics and Mathematical Physics areas.

Contents

1. Electricity and Magnetism, including charged particles, discharges, plasmas, and electrochemistry.
2. Mechanics and Thermodynamics
3. Quantum Physics, including group theory.
4. Chemistry and Materials, including pyrotechnics and war gases
5. Miscellaneous, biology and websites for example.

• Electrostatics at Home: work with the fundamentals of electricity in your kitchen
• Magnetohydrodynamics: including waves, stability and the Sun
• Charged Particle Dynamics: understanding charged particle motion
• The Particle Electron and Thomas Precession: the semiclassical particle electron in atomic structure and electromagnetic wave scattering; the betatron.
• Relativistic Electrodynamics: fields of a point charge in arbitrary motion, radiation, and the electron synchrotron.
• Stopping Power: energy loss of charged particles in matter and Cherenkov radiation.
• The Doppler Effect: classical and relativistic analysis of the effects of motion on waves.
• Electrical Discharges in Gases: sparks, glows and arcs
• Polarization: the Lorentz-Lorenz formula and its derivation; the definition of the electric displacement D
• Electromagnetic Waves: a tutorial review of this subject central to Electrical Engineering
• Magnetic Poles and the Biot-Savart Law: plus an account of systems of electromagnetic units
• Heaviside-Lorentz units: the rationalized Gaussian system of units
• Capacitors: all about them.
• Eddy Currents: a discussion of the demonstration apparatus
• Electrochemistry: an explanation of electrode potentials
• Gravity Cell Experiment: build your own gravity cell
• Heat Radiation: Planck distribution, Wien's Law, Stefan's Law

• Celestial Mechanics: calculating the positions of planets, comets and earth satellites
• The Hodograph: and its applications.
• Gravitational Assist: a very simple explanation of this intriguing effect.
• Projectile Motion: ballistic pendulums and air resistance.
• Dynes and Slugs: an introduction to the cgs and fps systems of mechanical units, and their use in dynamics
• Stokes's and Poiseuille's Laws: dynamics of viscous fluids
• Tensors and Ellipsoids: with applications to dynamics, elasticity, and optics.
• Boltzmann's Factor: easy statistical mechanics.
• Thermodynamics: the principal results of classical thermodynamics.
• The Concept of Temperature: yet another look at T.
• Surface Tension: an application of free energy, U - TS. See also Soap and Bubbles, below.
• Phase Rules!: applications of the Phase Rule and phase diagrams. Also freezing mixtures.
• Colloids: the fascinating properties of matter that is all surface.

• The WKB Approximation: an important method of calculation in elementary quantum mechanics
• Groups and Physics: groups, matrix representations, and applications to quantum mechanics and elementary particles
• The Casimir Force: zero-point energy in the vacuum
• The Square-Well Potential: finding the energy levels by iterative solution with the HP-48G.
• Scattering: fundamentals, the partial-wave method and low-energy electron scattering by atoms.
• Formal Scattering Theory: Green's functions, Feynman series, the S-matrix, transition probabilities and cross-sections, Born approximation.
• Coulomb Scattering: the classical analysis of Coulomb scattering.

There is a wealth of periodic tables on the internet, all with pretty much the same information, but with little interpretation. Three examples are given below.

Viselements, with limited information on each element. The website uses lurid dark backgrounds and navigation is not easy. It loads slowly, but is an excellent effort.

Webelements is a good site, but the spelling is sometimes bad. The lanthanides are shown beginning with La and ending with Yb, which is confusing. There are pictures of the elements. A good periodic table that you can print out (.pdf file) is included.

Tabla Periódica, is excellent, even though it does use a textured background. It is also in Spanish.

The articles in this section contain a good deal of physics, by the way!

• Crystals and Lattices: an introduction to the reciprocal lattice, a very useful concept.
• Why Is Milk White?: an incorrect answer in my dairy newsletter.
• Organic Chemistry: an introduction to organic compounds and reactions.
• Ice: explaining its structure and properties.
• Salt: a chemical of historic importance.
• Hydrogen: the most common element in the universe.
• Helium: and the other inert gases.
• Uranium: with radioactivity and nuclear power.
• Carbon: The Element of Life; also fuels and buckyballs.
• Silicon: The Element of the Earth. From semiconductors to glass, from diatoms to cement.
• Boron: an idiosyncratic element that likes the icosahedron.
• Iron: magnetism and red blood are two things it gives us.
• Chromium and Manganese: transition metals, ligand fields, and strategic materials.
• The Rare Earths: including scandium and thorium.
• Mercury: lore of the only elemental liquid metal.
• Lead: a metal of many uses.
• Tin: a metal full of history, maker of bronze.
• Zinc and Cadmium: a metal used before it was discovered; brass and alloys.
• Aluminium: the metal that electricity brings.
• Beryllium: a strange light metal found in beryllium copper and in gemstones.
• Copper, Silver and Gold: the royal family of metals.
• Platinum and its family.
• Phosphorus: the element that glows in the dark, and carries the energy of life.
• Arsenic: an element on the boundary of metal and nonmetal, with a curious history.
• Sulphur: the element that likes to form chains.
• Peroxide: hydrogen peroxide and related compounds.
• Soap and Bubbles: bubbles are not as simple as they appear.
• Ammonia: ammonia lore and the application of group theory to its infrared spectrum.
• Flash! Bang! Whiz!: propellants, explosives, pyrotechnics and fireworks.
• Chemical Warfare: poison gases.

• The Physics/Physique Experiment Kit for Young People: A lot of erroneous Physics, including a Mystery Motor.
• The Armchair Experimentalist: Mother nature fools textbook writers.
• 92 Naturally-Occurring Elements?: a much-repeated misconception.
• Burning Food: life and respiration.
• Websites: in chemistry, physics and mathematics.

The rainbow from I-76 in Northeastern Colorado. Note supernumerary bows, dark space, and just-perceptible secondary bow.