Syllabus Physics 101 Contemporary physics [ Revolutions in Physics] Prof.C.S .Liu csliu@umd.edu

Classes :Tuesday and Thursday 3 .30 – 4 .45 pm in CSC 2428

Discussion sessions Tue.9.30 am -10.20 am in MTH 0403 and Tuesday 2 pm-2.50 pm in Phy.1402.

Textbooks :Great Ideas in Physics, Great Physicists from Galileo to Einstein

Topics

Motions: Kinematics and dynamics, regular and periodical motions,order and chaos

Space ,Time, displacements, velocity, acceleration. and forces

Planetary motions: Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton

Newton’s law of Motion and law of Gravity

Energy and work: Conservation of Energy

Electricity and Magnetism, EM Induction— Coulomb, Faraday and Maxwell

Electromagnetic waves and Telecommunications –Hertz, Morse, Marconi, Bell

Radiations :Coherent and Incoherent radiation, Light bulb and laser

Electrons,Nucleus and Atoms- J.J. Thomson, Rutherford

Bohr atomics model

Quantum Physics—Planck,Einstein, deBroglie,Schrodinger

Pauli spin and Exclusion principle, the Periodic Table of elements—Pauli,Mendeleev

Relativity –Einstein

Nuclear energy for war and peace—Making of Atomic Bomb

Physics of Global environments

Physics at the Extremes: Cosmology and Superstrings

Physics and Us, Human values and human understanding

There will be a midterm exam and a paper presentation ,required for the course.