Advanced Physics Unit 1

HW 1: The World is a Wacky Place, Due on Friday, August 29

Read The Quantum World, Chapter 1 "Beneath the Surface of Things" pp 1-7, Chapter 2 pp 8-16 (Length, Speed, Time)

A) Please answer the following questions in your homework notebook:

1. Make a sketch of the paper that you are writing on-- but sketch what the paper would look like if you were only the size of an atom!!! What do you think you would "see"?

2. Identify and list the "startling" ideas about the physical world that physicists identified between 1924 and 1928. Did you know about these ideas before you read them? If these ideas are so important, why do you think the common person doesn't know very much about them?

3. What does the author mean when he discusses the "wave nature of matter"? How does the wave nature of matter affect measurements of things like atoms??

Also: The solutions to Wednesday's problems... I will give you in class on Friday. The blog has trouble with things like exponents...

HW 2: How we Define and Measure Wackiness, Due on Wednesday, September 3 or Thursday, September 4

Read The Quantum World pages 16-28

Set up a chart that has 7 rows and 4 columns. In the left most column list the following terms: Length, Speed, Time, Mass, Energy, Charge, and Spin. Put headings on the remaining three columns that read Definition, Units, and Interesting Tidbit. As you read the above pages in The Quantum World, fill in the spaces on the chart with the definition of, unit(s) of, and one interesting tidbit of information about each of the 7 Deadly physics terms. Be sure to identify the principle idea behind each concept.

HW 3: Meet the Leptons, Due on Friday, September 5

Read The Quantum World, pages 29-47

Q1: Carefully and completely define the following physics terms: Lepton, Baryon, Meson, Quark, Force Carrier, Hadron, Fermion, Boson. Note-- you will most likely need to use the internet in order to complete this assignment.

HW 4: More Socializing with the Leptons, Due on Tuesday, September 9

Read The Quantum World, pages 47-66 and the textbook (Physics: Calculus) pages 1180-1182

Q1: Define the concept of flavor (as it is used by physicists) via a comparison of electrons and muons.

Q2: Explain how Martin Perl "discovered" the tau.

HW 5: Forming a picture... Due on Thursday, September 11

Electrons, antineutrinos, the tau... we've jumped deep into the rabbit hole to start the year off. Let's climb back out and reflect... write a paragraph in which you name and describe each of the "leptons", then a second paragraph in which you compare and contrast them. Sound groovy?

HW 6: Quarks, Force Carriers, and what it's all about

Please read pages 67-81 in The Quantum World, and pages 1225-1227 the textbook.

Questions to think about:
1) When the author says that quarks "interact strongly", what does he mean exactly?
2) List and briefly describe the quarks in your notes.
3) How are composite particles different from fundamental particles?
4) What in tarnation is a gluon???

HW 7: A New Beginning Due on Wednesday, September 17

1. Please read the "Advanced Physics Class Expectations" that I passed out at the end of class. It shouldn't contain any surprises, and we'll touch on some key points on Wednesday.
2. Take a moment or two for some self-reflection. Think about the questions "what is going well for me in Physics and what would I like to get better at" and jot down whatever ideas come to mind. Don't take more than 5-10 minutes for this.
3. In your textbook, pages 60-63, do Discussion Questions 1, 6, 12 and Problems 1,11,15

HW 8: Vector, Vector Due on Friday, September 19

Read about vectors, textbook pages 35-38 and 44-49

A motorboat sits at a dock on the side of a river. The current of the river is 2 m/s, and the river is 60 meters wide. The captain of the boat decides to move the boat to the far side of the river, so she engages the motor, pushes off from the dock, and begins to cross the water. The motor of the boat pushes the boat through the water at a rate of 3 m/s, and the captain steers the boat so that it always moves in a direction that is perpendicular to the current (and, therefore, perpendicular to the shoreline as well).

i) organize all of the important information from this problem
ii) make a sketch that displays all of the important information
iii) draw (to scale) vectors for the velocity of the current and for the velocity of the boat (due to its motor)

a) How long does it take for the boat to reach the far side of the river?
b) How far downstream from the dock has the boat moved when it reaches the far side?
c) Use the tip-to-tail method of vector addition to answer this next question: from the perspective of a person standing on the dock, what s the speed and direction of the boat as it moves across the river?

HW 9: Due on Tuesday, September 23

Read Section 2.4 (pp 30-34) Instantaneous Speed

Do Textbook Problems, page 63-63 23,27,32

HW 10: Due on Thursday, September 25

Read Sections 3.3, 3.4, 3.5 Uniformly Accelerated Motion

Do Textbook Problems pp 107-108: 12, 15, 63, 67

HW 11: Due on Monday, October 6

Do Textbook Chapter 2 Problem 113a (NOT b!), Calculus Workbook exercise 3.1

HW 12: Due on Wednesday, October 8

Begin work on Unit 1 Exam