John M. Doyle (Department of Physics)
First-Year Seminar 23Y (Spring Term) Enrollment: Limited to 15
Monday, 6:45-8:45PM CANVAS SITE
Prerequisite: This seminar is restricted to students that very likely will major in physics or chem/physics. In their application, students should provide their planned courses for the fall semester. This course will treat several key principles with the expectation that students will encounter them in a more extensive, more formal way in an advanced physics course. Topics may change.
Some claim that there are 13 ideas or principles that can form the bedrock for a pretty good understanding of our physical and technological world. These are: 1) Boltzmann factor and thermal equilibrium, 2) Turbulence, 3) Reaction rates, 4) Indistinguishable particles, 5) Quantum waves, 6) Linearity, 7) Entropy and information, 8) Discharges, ionization, 9) Relativity, 10) Nuclear binding energies, 11) Photon modes, 12) Diffraction, 13) Resonance. Each week we will discuss one of these principles and see how they explain certain things about the physical world. We will discuss these and connections with other principles, as well as how the principle shows up in technology and, more broadly, in our technological society.