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Week Ten - Time Scales
This week, we think about different time scales: atomic, cosmological, sub-atomic, geological and human. We also think about how to make your computer go faster. Music: There from James Bond, “Only You” and “Kawika” from The Sunday Manoa.
Week Nine - Electricity and Magnetism
Not nearly enough about E&M, based on Prucell. Electrostatics, relation of E, B and relativity, waves and circuits. Music: “Now’s the Time” by Charlie Parker, “Ashokan Farewell” by Fiddle Fever.
Week Eight - Orbits
Galileo made a telescope and saw the moons orbiting Jupiter and physics started. Then came Huygens and Kepler, Newton and Leibniz tried to cheat each other, Newton shafted Halley and mechanics was born.
- Music:
- Franz Schubert, “The Trout, Death and the Maiden”
- Leonard Cohen, “The Future”
Week Seven - Relativity
The basic ideas of the Special Theory of Relativity: Einstein’s two big ideas, the Lorentz Transformations, relativistic kinematics and how to remember the signs.
Week Six - Simple Harmonic Oscillators
The first of a mini series which focuses on specific topics in physics. This week, the Simple Harmonic Oscillator, classical and quantum mechanical.
Week Five - Mechanics
Classical mechanics: Lagrangians (with and without constraints), Hamiltonians, generalized coordinates, Newton’s laws, momentum and energy conservation.
Week Four - Three Things
Thing one, thing two and thing three: every field boils down to three basic ideas. Some thoughts on how to discover them and what to do with them.
Week Three - Numbers
Constants and other numbers which Physics students should know. Numbers are important and not very hard to remember.
Week Two - Making Outlines
Making outlines, useful textbooks and more. To start: sit down with your notes or the text from your undergraduate class and make an outline.
Week One - Religiously
Things you may not know about the exam and how to overcome the most common pitfall in approaching it. THE KEY: start now, eighteen weeks before the exam and study 1/2 hour each day until further notice.
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