Frequently Asked Questions
I will try to answer here your main questions from lecture (not just
"frequently asked" ones, but any well-posed questions). Please ask
again if anything is still not clear!
Note I will occasionally go back later and add to or amend an answer.
- August 27 FAQ 1 Introduction, wave review: pdf html
- August 29 FAQ 2 More wave review, electromagnetic waves, interference: pdf html
- August 31 FAQ 3 Double and multiple slit interference, diffracti
on: pdf html
- September 3 FAQ 4 Single slit diffraction, thin films: pdf html
- September 5 FAQ 5 Inertial reference frames, Newtonian relativity, Michelson-Morley experiment, Einstein's postulates: pdf html
- September 7 FAQ 6 Simultaneity, time dilation, length contraction: pdf html
- September 10 FAQ 7 Lorentz transforms, addition of relativistic velocities, Doppler shifts: pdf html
- September 12 FAQ 8 Relativistic momentum and energy: pdf html
- September 14 FAQ 9 Binding energy, fission, fusion: pdf html
- September 17 FAQ 10 Blackbody radiation, Planck's formula: pdf html
- September 19 FAQ 11 Photoelectric effect, Compton scattering: pdf html
- September 21 FAQ 12 Particle/wave nature of light, de Broglie waves, electron diffraction: pdf html
- September 24 FAQ 13 Review: pdf html
- October 1 FAQ 14 Spectral lines, Bohr atom: pdf html
- October 3 FAQ 15 Wavefunctions, Schrödinger equation: pdf html
- October 5 FAQ 16 Operators, eigenvalues and eigenfunctions, time-independent Schrödinger equation, particle in a box: pdf html
- October 10 FAQ 17 More on particle in a box, eigenfunctions and eigenvalues: pdf html
- October 12 FAQ 18 Plane waves, localization, wave packets: pdf html
- October 15 FAQ 19 The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle: pdf html
- October 17 FAQ 20 Energy-time uncertainty principle, virtual particles, potential barrier: pdf html
- October 19 FAQ 21 More on potential barriers, tunneling: pdf html
- October 29 FAQ 22 More on tunneling, bound states: pdf html
- October 31 FAQ 23 Scanning tunneling microscope, 3D Schrödinger equation: pdf html
- November 2 FAQ 24 Schrödinger equation for a central
potential, spherical harmonics, angular momentum: pdf html
- November 5 FAQ 25 Review: pdf html
- November 12 FAQ 27 Radial wavefunctions, Zeeman splitting, Stern-Gerlach experiment: pdf html
- November 14 FAQ 28 Spin, anomalous Zeeman effect, spin-orbit: pdf html
- November 16 FAQ 29 Fine structure, hyperfine structure, MRI: pdf html
- November 26 FAQ 30 Exchange symmetries, fermions and bosons, Pauli Principle: pdf html
- November 28 FAQ 31 Fermi energy, classical gases: pdf html
- November 28/29 FAQ 32 Boltzmann statistics: pdf html
- November 30 FAQ 33 Heat capacities, degrees of freedom, equipartition: pdf html
- December 3 FAQ 34 Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein distributions: pdf html
- December 5 FAQ 35 Transitions, lasers: pdf html
- December 7 FAQ 36 Review: pdf html