Topics, Pre-lecture Readings,
and Assorted Miscellany
for PHYS 1012 - 2022

Completely random stuff

• Newton didn't frame hypotheses. Why should we? - November, 2022
• Turning off my phone improved my science - February, 2022
• Highlights of the Year - December, 2021
• Subsurface imaging shows scale of the tragedy of Indigenous children - Physics Today, December, 2021
• He always wanted a Ph.D. in physics. He finally earned it at 89 - November, 2021
• Brain tumours spread by exploiting fundamental physics - December, 2021
• Why should physicists study history? - July, 2016
• How philosophy is making me a better scientist - April, 2021
• The Top 10 scientific surprises of Science News' first 100 years
• Diverse groups make better decisions (December, 2020)
• Einstein's garden: translating physics into Blackfoot
• Why I swapped the piano for pipettes - Concert pianist-turned-immunologist Gabriel Victora sees parallels between science and music
• Physics Lessons from the World of Music
• The Sound of Science
• The Sounds of Atoms (January, 2023)
• What Is the Funniest Number? (also, just for more gossip about math, there's The Sordid Past of the Cubic Formula)

Lectures and Tutorials

All chapter section numbers are from University Physics:
- Thermodynamics and Electricity & Magnetism are covered in Volume 2
- Optics is covered in Volume 3.
Simulations are from the University of Colorado's PhET project.

• Lecture 1 - Monday, January 10 (12:30)
• Topics: Electric Charge, Electric Force
• Readings: CH 5.1-5.3
• PhET Simulation: Balloons and Static Electricity
• PhET Simulation: Coulomb's Law
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • October 1897: The Discovery of the Electron
  • August, 1913: Robert Millikan Reports His Oil Drop Results
  • A Comparison of the Charges of the Electron, Proton and Neutron - September, 1959
  • Neutral result charges up antimatter research - January, 2016
    [Self Promotion Alert - this is a result from my experiment! See my research page for more details on this and other measurements using antihydrogen]
  • Large bulk matter search for fractional charge particles - September, 2002
  • Contact electrification explained at last - June, 2021
  • June 1785: Coulomb Measures the Electric Force
  
  
• Lecture 2 - Wednesday, January 12 (12:30)
• Topics: Electric Field, Electric Field Lines
• Readings: CH 5.4, 5.6
• PhET Simulation: Charges and Fields
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • Electric Fields and Ballooning Spiders
    • Ballooning Spiders: The Case for Electrostatic Flight - November, 2013
    • Electric Fields Elicit Ballooning in Spiders [PDF] - Current Biology, July, 2018
    • Ballooning spiders hitch a ride on electric fields
    • Spiders go ballooning on electric fields
    • Spiders Can Fly Hundreds of Miles Using Electricity
  • Electric Fields and Bees
    
    • Detection and Learning of Floral Electric Fields by Bumblebees - Science, April, 2013
    • Electric fields of flowers stimulate the sensory hairs of bumble bees - PNAS, June, 2016
    • The bee, the flower, and the electric field: electric ecology and aerial electroreception J. Comp. Physiology, June, 2017
    • Bumblebees sense electric fields in flowers
    • Bees Can Sense the Electric Fields of Flowers
    • Bumblebees' Electric Sense
    • Bumble-bees use their fuzz to detect electric fields - June, 2016
    • Bees May Use Electricity to Communicate
  
  
• Tutorial 1 - Thursday, January 13 (13:30): Scalar and Vector Fields
• PhET Simulation: Vector Addition
• PhET Simulation: Curve Fitting
  
  
• Lecture 3 - Friday, January 14 (12:30)
• Topics: Electric Dipole
• Readings: CH 5.7
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • October 8, 1945: First Patent for the Microwave
  • Probing Time-Dependent Molecular Dipoles on the Attosecond Time Scale - July, 2013
  • Ultracold dipoles are under control - May, 2010
  • Molecules test electron dipole - February, 2002
  • New Limit on the Neutron's Internal Charge Asymmetry - February, 2020
  • Dueling dipoles: In search of a new theory of photosynthetic energy transfer - December, 2010
  
  
• Lecture 4 - Monday, January 17 (12:30)
• Topics: Electric Field due to Continuous Charge Distributions
• Readings: CH 5.5
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • Fluttering polymer ribbons harvest electrical energy - October, 2020
  • Quantum treatment sheds fresh light on triboelectricity - October, 2020
  • Can flexoelectricity explain the charging by friction conundrum? - September, 2019
  
  
• Lecture 5 - Wednesday, January 19 (12:30)
• Topics: Gauss' Law
  
• Readings: CH 6.1-6.2
• Assume the cow is a sphere ...
  • Spherical Cow - August, 2014
  • The Sacred, Spherical Cows of Physics - May, 2014
  • What is up with the spherical cow? - February, 2011
  • Assume the Cow is a Sphere - Notes from Two Scientific Psychologists - Septemeber, 2010
  • The Spherical Cow - An Insight into Science - July, 2020
  • Consider a Spherical Cow: a Course in Environmental Problem Solving [Journal Article] - January, 1988
  
  
• Tutorial 2 - Thursday, January 20 (13:30): Electric Fields of Assemblages of Objects
  - Electric Fields Equation Sheet
  
  
• Lecture 6 - Friday, January 21 (12:30)
• Topics: Gauss' Law, Spherical Charge Distributions and Conductors
• Readings: CH 6.3-6.4
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • March 1844: Publication of Faraday's Letter Describing His Ice Pail Experiment
  • Antimatter transport processes - 2010
  • Are Faraday cages less effective than previously thought? - September, 2015
  
  
• Lecture 7 - Monday, January 24 (12:30)
• Topics: Electric Potential
• Readings: CH 7.1-7.3
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • Water molecules flip during potential switch - May, 2019
  • Semiconductor nanosensor measures membrane potential - January, 2018
  • Muons Reveal Record-Breaking Thunderstorm Voltage - March, 2019
  • Electric Eels
    • March 19, 1800: Alexander von Humboldt Hunts Electric Eels
    • Electricity, eels and evolution - July, 2014
    • Electric eel inspires new power source - December, 2017
  
  
• Lecture 8 - Wednesday, January 26 (12:30)
• Topics: Fields and Potentials, Equipotential Surfaces
• Readings: CH 7.4-7-.6
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • February 12, 1935: Patent granted for Van de Graaff generator
  • Is the electric potential physical? - August, 2021
    • Revisiting the electric potential - August, 2022
    • Revisiting the electric potential - August, 2022
  
  
• Tutorial 3 - Thursday, January 27 (13:30): Electric Potential of Assemblages of Objects
  
  
• Lecture 9 - Friday, January 28 (12:30)
• Topics: Electric Current, Resistance
• Readings: CH 9.1-9.4
• PhET Simulation: Resistance in a Wire
• PhET Simulation: Ohm's Law
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • December 23, 1750: Ben Franklin Attempts to Electrocute a Turkey
  • Black History Month: Otis Boykin and the Cold War-Era Resistor
  • Electrical resistance standard could get a revised quantum definition - February, 2022
  • Atom Wire Resists Conventions - October, 1998
  • Lightning
    • May 10, 1752: First Experiment to Draw Electricity from Lightning
    • A Laser-Based "Lightning Rod"
      A powerful laser can redirect lightning strikes
      Lightning strikes a laser rod - January, 2023
    • Physicists strike gold, solving 50-year lightning mystery - November, 2022
    • Detailed Footage Finally Reveals What Triggers Lightning - December, 2021
    • Lightning 'superbolts' have a unique formation mechanism, satellite studies suggest - December, 2020
    • Space station detectors found the source of weird 'blue jet' lightning - January, 2021
    • International Space Station sheds light on blue jets from thunderstorms - February, 2021
  • Branched flow - December, 2021
  • A Smooth Conduit for Electron Fluids - August, 2021

  The cell membrane is a capacitor

  
  
• Lecture 10 - Monday, January 31 (12:30)
• Topics: DC Circuits, Kirchoff's Laws, Electrical Power
• Readings: CH 10.1-10.3, 9.5
• PhET Simulation: DC Circuit Construction Kit
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • March 20, 1800: Volta describes the Electric Battery
  • October 1842: William Grove's letter to Faraday Describing a Fuel Cell
  • May 1888: Tesla Patents "Electric Transmission of Power"
  • Circuit Analysis (an electronic circuit as analog of quantum mechanics)- October, 2011
  • Conductive hydrogel could repair damaged peripheral nerves - October, 2020
  • External skin patch transfers power to medical implants - July, 2020
  
  
• Lecture 11 - Wednesday, February 2 (12:30)
• Topics: Capacitors, Energy Storage, Dielectrics
• Readings: CH 8.1-8.4
• PhET Simulation: Capacitor Basics
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • Common clouds complicate atmospheric current flow - July, 2020
  • Very Small Tunnel Junctions Sense the Effect of Single Electrons - May, 1988
  • Charges cascading along a molecular chain - November, 2020
  • Deciphering Water's Dielectric Constant - October, 2016
  • Counting Bees using Capacitors - January, 2016
  • Mechanical buttons to capacitive sensing - A step-by-step guide: Part I - March, 2013
  
  
• Tutorial 4 - Thursday, February 3 (13:30): Electric Fields, DC Circuits
  
  
• Lecture 12 - Friday, February 4 (12:30)
• Topics: RC Circuits
• Readings: CH 10.5
• PhET Simulation: AC Circuit Construction Kit (for now just use battery, resistor, and capacitor)
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • Controlling heart beats with lasers - August, 2010
  • Nonlinearity in the heart - November, 1998
  
  
• Lecture 13 - Monday, February 7 (12:30)
• Topics: Magnetic Fields and Force
• Readings: CH 11.1-11.3
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • The Search for Magnetic Monopoles
    • ATLAS homes in on magnetic monopoles - June, 2019
    • Search for magnetic monopoles and stable high-electric-charge objects in 13 TeV proton-proton collisions with the ATLAS detector - May, 2019 (revised: February, 2020)
    • The Mysterious Magnetic Monopole - talk given at the 2019 Women in Physics Canada Conference by our very own Professor Wendy Taylor (definitely not to be confused with the fictional Wendy Taylor who appears in the soap opera Days of Our Lives)
    • Magnetic Monopoles and Free Fractionally Charged States at Accelerators and in Cosmic Rays - September, 2017
  • Stuff about the Earth's Magnetic Field
    • The World Magnetic Model
    • A Hitchhiker's Guide to an Ancient Geomagnetic Disruption - February, 2021
    • The North Magnetic Pole's Mysterious Journey Across the Arctic - February, 2019
    • June 15, 1917: Death of Kristian Birkeland, King of the Northern Lights
  • Cosmic Magnetic Fields
    • Magnetic-fluid experiment sheds light on astrophysical accretion discs - September, 2022
    • Behold the Magnetar, nature's ultimate superweapon - June, 2022,
      Astronomers Report a Monstrous Eruption from a Supermagnetic Star,
      Magnetic propeller star flings plasma into the cosmos - January, 2022
    • The Hidden Magnetic Universe Begins to Come Into View - July, 2020
    • Balding Black Holes Lose Their Magnetic Hair - August, 2021
    • Scientists discover how high-energy electrons strengthen magnetic fields - July, 2021
    • and the Sun
      • How a simple magnetic field configuration could trigger solar eruptions - August, 2021
      • The enduring mystery of the solar corona - September, 2021
      • The Parker Solar Probe is the first spacecraft to visit the sun's atmosphere - December, 2021
    • and the planets
      • Life on Earth-like exoplanets could be protected by strong magnetic fields - February, 2022
      • Astronomers Find Secret Planet-Making Ingredient: Magnetic Fields - June, 2021
      • What was the shape of the Moon's ancient magnetic field? - November, 2021
      • The Solar System's Mysterious Magnetic Fields - October, 2021
      • A meteorite's magnetism hints at Jupiter's migration - September, 2021
  • Magnetic Fields and Biology
    • Magnetic 'stop sign' helps songbirds return to breeding sites - March, 2022
    • Magnetic crystals found in the noses of salmon could aid navigation - February, 2022
    • Magnetic fields for modulating the nervous system - February, 2021
    • Researchers use magnets to cause programmed cancer cell deaths
      A magnetic switch for the control of cell death signalling in in vitro and in vivo systems (Nature Materials) - October, 2012
    • Nanomagnets control shape-morphing micromachines - November, 2019
    • Magnetic threads slide through blood vessels to reach clots in the brain - September, 2019
    • And, of course, ... Bees
      • Linking magnetite in the abdomen of honey bees to a magnetoreceptive function - March, 2017 (One of the authors of this paper - Michael Hayden - is one of my collaborators on ALPHA antihydrogen trapping experiment!)
      • The magnetic sense of honey bees - analyses of underlying mechanisms and potential function - V. Lambinet, Thesis, SFU 2017
      • Bees and their magnetic superpower - May, 2017
      • Honey bees navigate using magnetic abdomens - March, 2017
      • Catch the Buzz - Honey Bees Navigate Using Magnetic Abdomens - April, 2017 in Bee Culture - The Magazine of American Beekeeping
      • Magnetic Sensing through the Abdomen of the Honey bee - March, 2016
      • Does the Earth's Magnetic Field Serve as a Reference for Alignment of the Honeybee Waggle Dance? - December, 2014
  
  
• Lecture 14 - Wednesday, February 9 (12:30)
• Topics: Magnetic Force and Currents, Hall Effect
• Readings: CH 11.4, 11.6
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • July 1820: Oersted & Electromagnetism
  • 'Magnetic illusion' can create magnetic fields at a distance - December, 2020
  • Magnetic levitation chamber could be used to simulate plant growth on Mars - December, 2021
  • Researchers develop ultra-sensitive device for detecting magnetic fields - June, 2020
  
  
• Tutorial 5 - Thursday, February 10 (13:30): DC and RC Circuits
  
  
• Lecture 15 - Friday, February 11 (12:30)
• Topics: Sources of Magnetic Fields, Force between Current-Carrying Wires
• Readings: CH 12.1-12.3
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • Researchers propose a method of magnetizing a material without applying an external magnetic field - August, 2021
  • Microtube implosions could produce megatesla magnetic fields - November, 2020
  • Experiments expose how powerful magnetic fields are generated in the aftermath of supernovae - June, 2020
  
  

  The GaToroid design could provide a lightweight and compact gantry for hadron therapy. (Courtesy: CERN)

• Lecture 16 - Monday, February 14 (12:30)
• Topics: Magnetic Dipole, Magnetic Materials
• Readings: CH 12.4, 11.5, 12.7
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • Visualization of the origin of magnetic forces by atomic resolution electron microscopy - February, 2022
  • July, 1977: MRI Uses Fundamental Physics for Clinical Diagnosis
    
    • Isidor Isaac Rabi: walking the path of God
  • ALPHA traps antihydrogen using its magnetic dipole moment
    • ALPHA's first antihydrogen spectroscopy - March, 2012
    • Investigation of the fine structure of antihydrogen - Nature, February 19, 2020
      
    • Probing Trapped Antihydrogen - Physics in Canada, February, 2017
    • Microwave Spectroscopy of Antihydrogen as a Test of CPT Symmetry - Student presentation, Physics in Canada, 2017
  • Magnetic fields for modulating the nervous system - February, 2021
  • The standard model's greatest triumph - December, 2013
  • Pressure alters rock magnetization - May, 2020
  • Self-assembled peptides exhibit surprisingly strong diamagnetism - November, 2019
  • Making permanent magnets out of liquid droplets - August, 2019
  • How biological motors and molecules can be used to measure magnetic materials - June, 2015
  
  
• Lecture 17 - Wednesday, February 16 (12:30)
• Topics: Ampere's Law, Solenoids and Toroids
• Readings: CH 12.5-12.6
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • Maxwell Coil - Wikipedia
  • Magnetic Field Gets up to Speed - May, 2020
  • GaToroid: a non-rotating gantry for hadron therapy - January, 2019
  • Not your usual NMR - June, 2011
  • Compact Muon Solenoid magnet reaches full field - September, 2006
    [Perhaps "compact" isn't the correct adjective. In fact, it's the world's largest superconducting solenoid magnet and is the central component of the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN]
  
  
• Tutorial 7 - Thursday, February 17 (13:30)
  
  
• Lecture 18 - Friday, February 18 (12:30)
• Topics: Induction, Faraday's Law, Lenz's Law
• Readings: CH 13.1-13.2
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • July 1820: Oersted & Electromagnetism
  • September 4, 1821 and August 29, 1831: Faraday and Electromagnetism
  • Faraday's Diary of Experimental Investigation (1820-1862)
  • New Medical Scan Requires Less Touching, New medical probe combines sound and electromagnetic induction - July, 2014
  
  
• Lecture 19 - Monday, February 28 (12:30)
• Topics: Induced Electric Fields, Motional EMF, Eddy Currents
• Readings: CH 13.4, 13.3, 13.5
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • Persistent currents in normal metals - November, 2009
  • Custom Edge-Element FEM Solver and its Application to Eddy-Current Simulation of Realistic 2M-Element Human Brain Phantom - May, 2019
  
  
• Test #1 - Wednesday, March 2 (12:30) in class
  • Topics and Practice Problems
  • Equation Sheet
  
  
  
• Lecture 20 - Friday, March 4 (12:30)
• Topics: Electric Generators, Inductors
• Readings: CH 13.6-13.7, 14.1-14.2
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • July 1887: James Blyth Harnesses the Wind for Electricity
  • How does a traffic light detect that a car has pulled up and is waiting for the light to change?
    Vehicle detection with an inductive loop (Wikipedia)
  • The smallest motor in the world - June, 2020
  • Inductance based on a quantum effect has the potential to miniaturize inductors - February, 2021
  
  
• Lecture 21 - Monday, March 7 (12:30)
• Topics: Electromagnetic Energy, AC Circuits
• Readings: CH 14.3, 14.5, 15.1-15.2
• PhET Simulation: AC Circuit Construction
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • A new twist on an old technology - August, 2014
  
  
• Lecture 22 - Wednesday, March 9 (12:30)
• Topics: AC Filters, Transformers
• Readings: CH 15.4-15.6
• PhET Simulation: Fourier: Making Waves
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • Electromagnetic noise could set European robin adrift - May, 2014
  • Sony's Noise Canceling Headphones Reduce 'White Noise' by 80 Percent - May, 2005
  • This frog has lungs that act like noise-canceling headphones - March, 2021
  
  
• Tutorial 8 - Thursday, March 10 (13:30): Complex Numbers
  
  • Complex numbers are essential in quantum theory, experiments reveal - January, 2022
  • Imaginary Numbers May Be Essential for Describing Reality - Quanta Magazine, March 3, 2021
    
  • Quantum physics requires imaginary numbers to explain reality - December, 2021
  
  
  
  
  
• Lecture 23 - Friday, March 11 (12:30)
• Topics: Maxwell's Equations, Electromagnetic Waves
• Readings: CH 16.1-16.3
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • Quotes about and by James Clerk Maxwell
  • Maxwell's letter to Faraday, 1857
  • Maxwell's prediction of the speed of electromagnetic waves is one of The 10 greatest predictions in physics
  • July 1849: Fizeau publishes results of speed of light experiment
  • Measuring up: how our search for the speed of light led to our current understanding of physics - June, 2021
  • Efforts at Unifying Electromagnetism and Gravity
    • Michael Faraday, grand unified theorist? (1851) - March, 2009
    • Kinetic Theories of Gravitation/Faraday, 1844 - Wikipedia
    • Einstein's quest for a unified theory
    • Experimental Indications of Electro-Gravity - September, 2005
  
  
• Lecture 24 - Monday, March 14 (12:30)
• Topics: Light Reflection, Refraction, Dispersion, Polarization
• Readings: CH 1.1 - 1.5
• PhET Simulation: Bending Light
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • March 16, 1938: Katharine Blodgett patents anti-reflective coatings

    A 'refracted' trail of Wasmannia auropunctata workers at the medium border between smooth (white) and rough (green) felt. The position of the food is on the rough felt.

  • Experimental results for refraction - Claudius Ptolemy, 2^nd Century AD
  • Refractive-Index Puzzle Explained - February, 2021
  • New class of laser beam doesn't follow normal laws of refraction - August, 2020
  • Ants follow Fermat's principle of least time (Fermat's Principle of Least Time Predicts Refraction of Ant Trails at Substrate Borders - the original PLOS article)
  
  
• Lecture 25 - Wednesday, March 16 (12:30)
• Topics: Interference
• Readings: CH 3.1 - 3.5
• Simulation Young's Double Slit
• PhET Simulation: Photoelectric Effect
• PhET Simulation: Quantum Wave Interference
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • May 1801: Thomas Young and the Nature of Light
  • The Double Slit Experiment
  • A double-slit experiment without slits - December, 2021
  • July 1816: Fresnel's Evidence for the Wave Theory of Light
  • The Greatest Mistake In The History Of Physics
  • Interferometry helps weigh a galactic microlens - December, 2021
  • The Secrets of the Best Rainbows on Earth - March, 2021
  • Particle-Wave Duality
    • The Feynman Lectures on Physics - Quantum Behavior
    • Hey There Little Electron, Why Won't You Tell Me Where You Came From?
    • Electron's wave nature constructed in the lab at last - January, 2022
    • The first ever photograph of light as both a particle and wave - March, 2015
    • Double slits with single atoms - February, 2020
    • Interference wall captures single photons - February, 2022
  
  
• Tutorial 10 - Thursday, March 17 (13:30):
  
  
• Lecture 26 - Friday, March 18 (12:30)
• Topics: Diffraction
• Readings: CH 4.1 - 4.6
• PhET Simulation: Wave Interference (Diffraction)
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • The spot in the shadow - Fresnel/Poisson/Arago Spot
  • Diffracting a Beam of Organic Molecules - July, 2020
  • Why Is This Chocolate Shimmering Like a Rainbow? - May, 2020
  • Electron diffraction sees hydrogen atoms - February, 2017
  • Reversed diffraction in bio-inspired photonic materials - October, 2014
  
  
• Lecture 27 - Monday, March 21 (12:30)
• Topics: Temperature and Heat, Heat Transfer, Specific Heat, Conduction
• Readings: CH 1.1 - 1.2, 1.4, 1.6
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • The Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics of Small Systems - July, 2005
  • Thermodynamics of evolution - December, 1972
  • Temperature
    • Rethinking the kelvin - January, 2016
    • Mighty mini-thermometer detects tiny temperature changes - June, 2022
    • A Record Low for Laser-Cooled Molecules - December, 2021
    • Nanodiamond quantum thermometer measures the temperature of worms - October, 2020
    • A quantum thermometer to measure the coldest temperatures in the universe - August, 2020
    • Precise temperature measurements with invisible light - May, 2019
    • Temperature difference propels droplets - October, 2016
  • New material breaks low-thermal-conductivity record - July, 2021
  • Heat flows 'backwards' across Josephson junction - January, 2013
  
  
• Lecture 28 - Wednesday, March 23 (12:30)
• Topics: Mechanisms of Heat Transfer (Convection and Radiation), Planck and the Quantum
• Readings: CH 1.6, CH 6.1
• PhET Simulation: Blackbody Spectrum
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • Temperature Oscillation Increases Heat Flow - April, 2022
  • Sailing on Convection - May, 2014
  • October 1900: Planck's Formula for Black Body Radiation
  • Max Planck: the reluctant revolutionary - December, 2000
  
  
• Tutorial 11 - Thursday, March 24 (13:30): Test Topics Review
  
  
• Test #2 - Friday, March 25 (12:30)
  • Topics and Practice Problems
  • Equation Sheet
  
  
• Lecture 29 - Monday, March 28 (12:30)
• Topics: Phase Changes, Ideal Gas
• Readings: CH 1.5, CH 2
• PhET Simulation: States of Matter
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • October, 1644: Torricelli Demonstrates the Existence of a Vacuum
  • April 23, 1762: Joseph Black and Latent Heat - Disappearing heat and the dog that did not bark
  • February 1811: Amadeo Avogadro Enumerated the Molecular World
  • January 19, 1894: James Dewar produces solid air
  • The bubbling universe: A previously unknown phase transition in the early universe - February, 2023
  • Mpemba effect runs in reverse - March, 2022
  • New experiment could confirm the fifth state of matter in the universe - March, 2022
  • Researchers discover new form of ice - March, 2022
  • Holographic plasma lenses could focus ultrahigh-intensity lasers - March, 2022
  • Airborne viruses could be protected by phase transitions in droplets and aerosols - January, 2022
  • Infrared cameras and artificial intelligence uncover the physics of boiling - July, 2021
  • Quantum Simulators Create a Totally New Phase of Matter - December, 2021
  • Controlling Phase Transitions in a 2D Model System - December, 2021
  • New evidence of an anomalous phase of matter brings energy-efficient technologies closer - July, 2021
  • 'Quintuple point' material defies 150-year-old thermodynamics rule - October, 2020
  • So, You Think You Discovered a New State of Matter? - May, 2021
  • Quantum 'fifth state of matter' observed in space for first time - June, 2020
  • Fast x-ray scattering reveals water's two liquid phases - November, 2020
  
  
  
• Lecture 30 - Wednesday, March 30 (12:30)
• Topics: Gas Kinetics
• Readings: CH 2.2, 2.4
• PhET Simulation: Gas Properties
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • York researchers part of international effort to cool a sample of antimatter to near absolute zero ,
    Antimatter cooled by laser light - nature, April 1, 2021
  • Weightless Particles Prove Granular Gas Theory - May, 2020
  
  
• Lecture 31 - Friday, April 1 (12:30)
• Topics: Heat and Work, First Law of Thermodynamics, Thermodynamic Processes
• Readings: CH 3.1 - 3.4
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • The unsung theory: why thermodynamics is as important as quantum mechanics and general relativity - August, 2021
  • Jame Prescott Joule
    • December 1840: Joule's abstract on converting mechanical power into heat
    • June 1849: James Prescott Joule and the Mechanical Equivalent of Heat
  • Rippling graphene harvests thermal energy - October, 2020
  • Recreating outer space plasma systems in the lab - February, 2018
  • Two radio relics discovered in the galaxy cluster Abell 168 - March, 2018
  
  
• Lecture 32 - Monday, April 4 (12:30)
• Topics: Heat Capacity and Ideal Gases
• Readings: CH 2.3, 3.5, 3.6
• PhET Simulation: Gases Intro
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • Why solar wind is rhombic-shaped? - November, 2011
  
  
• Lecture 33 - Wednesday, April 6 (12:30)
• Topics: Heat Engines, Second Law of Thermodynamics, Carnot Cycle
• Readings: CH 4.1 - 4.5
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • Physicists Rewrite the Fundamental Law That Leads to Disorder - May, 2022
  • Beyond the Second Law - March, 2022
  • Sadi Carnot
    • June 12, 1824: Sadi Carnot publishes treatise on heat engines
    • Carnot's contribution to thermodynamics - August, 1974
  • Quantum heat engine behaviour observed in a qubit - October, 2020
  
  
• Tutorial 13 - Thursday, April 7 (13:30): Thermodynamics problems
  
  
• Lecture 34 - Friday, April 8 (12:30)
• Topics: Entropy
• Readings: CH 4.6 - 4.7
• PhET Simulation: Plinko Probability
• Related Miscellaneous Stuff
  • September, 1911: The Sackur-Tetrode Equation - How Entropy Met Quantum Mechanics
  • A hundred years of entropy - January, 1968
  • Why This Universe? A New Calculation Suggests Our Cosmos Is Typical - November, 2022
  • Entropy and order work together in an artificial spin ice - April, 2022
  • Theorem explains why quantities such as heat and power can fluctuate in microscopic system - November, 2019
  • A scanning-tunneling microscope provides a glimpse of entropy in action - February, 2017
  • Entropy and search engines - October, 2018
  • Entropy and the Arrow of Time
    • Boltzmann's Entropy and Time's Arrow - Physics Today, September, 1993
    • What is time? - October, 2013
    • Of arrows and eternity - June, 2010
    • How entropy might increase backwards in time - as well as forwards - January, 2022
    • Nanoscale clock hints at universal limits to measuring time - June, 2021
    • Time Flows Toward Order - December, 2020
    • Physicists put the arrow of time under a quantum microscope - November, 2015
  • Maxwell's Demon
    • A demon of a puzzle
    • June 1871: Maxwell and his Demon
    • The demons haunting thermodynamics - November, 2021
    • Information: From Maxwell's demon to Landauer's eraser - September, 2015
    • The Gambler, Maxwell's New Demon - February, 2021
    • Quantum coherence turns up the heat on Maxwell's demon - October, 2020
    • Maxwell's demon brings order to an atomic lattice - September, 2018
    • Maxwell's Demon: Why Warmth Disperses and Time Passes - March, 1999
  • Entropy and biological systems
    • Is life the result of the laws of entropy? - June, 2022
    • Physicists pin down the pay off between speed and entropy - August, 2020
    • Entropy explains RNA diffusion rates in cells - August, 2019
    • Standard compression algorithm could revolutionize physical and biological computations - December, 2019
    • Entropy and electrostatics help disordered proteins sense curvature - July, 2019
    • Entropy plays an important role in how living cells form tissues - June, 2019
    • Consciousness is tied to entropy - October, 2016
    • The industry of life - November, 2007
  • Black Holes and Thermodynamics
    • Scientists may have solved Stephen Hawking's black hole paradox - March, 2022
    • This Physicist Discovered an Escape From Hawking's Black Hole Paradox - August, 2021
    • Black Holes Obey Information-Emission Limits - April, 2021
    • The Most Famous Paradox in Physics Nears Its End - October, 2020
    • Black Hole Paradoxes Reveal a Fundamental Link Between Energy and Order - May, 2020
    • Exploring the microscopic structure of black holes from the viewpoint of thermodynamics - September, 2018
    • A Microscopic Account of Black Hole Entropy - May, 2020
    • Thermal spectrum of analogue black hole puts Hawking radiation in a new light - May, 2019