Download Course Learning Goals

PHY 115: Future Physics
Learning Goals
Fall 2016
Crosscutting goals (apply to ALL units throughout the course):
1. Estimate physical quantities (what numbers are or aren't reasonable answers to a
problem) and relate physical quantities to common experience.
2. Use units appropriately in estimating and calculating physical quantities.
3. Analyze and interpret equations, including:
a) Qualitatively explain the relationship(s) described by an equation.
i.
Apply proportional reasoning to quantify how much one variable
changes due to changes in another variable.
ii. Determine when physical quantities are more sensitive to changes in
one variable compared to another.
b) Write an equation that corresponds to a simple quantitative relationship
described by words.
4. Relate physical principles to real-world applications and to political and economic
events.
a) Determine whether physical phenomena (from movies, news articles, and
websites) are consistent with physical principles.
5. Appreciate the beauty and power of fundamental science and how insights from basic
scientific research can change society.
Unit 1: Energy and Power
6. Define, describe, relate, and distinguish among the following physical quantities:
a) heat
b) energy
i. kinetic energy
c) mass
d) power
i. useful power
7. Estimate and compare the amount of useful energy provided by various common
energy sources.
8. Evaluate trade-offs between different sources of energy.
9. Apply the principle of conservation of energy and an understanding of energy
transformations to interpret and describe physical phenomena.
Unit 2: Atoms and Heat
10. Define, describe, relate, and distinguish among the following physical quantities:
a) temperature
b) thermal energy
c) pressure
d) specific heat
e) entropy
f) from Unit 1: heat, kinetic energy
11. List and describe evidence that supports the model that things are made from atoms.
12. Apply the atomic model to explain physical phenomena, such as:
a) thermal expansion
b) heat conduction
c) the relationship between temperature and pressure
13. Describe the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics and explain why converting heat energy to
kinetic energy is much harder than converting kinetic energy to heat energy.
Unit 3: Force and Gravity
14. Define, describe, relate, and distinguish among the following physical quantities:
a) force
b) momentum
c) velocity
d) acceleration (linear and centripetal)
e) weight
f) gravitational potential energy
15. Define the following physical principles, and apply them appropriately to make
predictions about the motion of objects. Identify relationships among them, and
determine in what situations each principle applies.
a) Newton’s first, second, and third laws
b) Conservation of momentum
c) Conservation of mechanical energy
Unit 4: Radioactivity
16. Define or describe what the following terminology means:
a) radioactivity (vs. “radiation”)
b) alpha, beta, and gamma rays
c) nuclear fission
d) half-life
17. Describe the structure of an atom, including its constituent particles and their relative
sizes.
18. Describe evidence that mass is not always conserved.
19. Apply conservation laws to radioactive decays, and relate to health risks.
20. Make quantitative predictions given situations involving exponential growth and
exponential decay (using both numbers and graphs)
Unit 5: Waves and Light
21. Define, describe, relate, and distinguish among the following physical properties of
waves:
a) frequency
b) period
c) amplitude
d) wavelength
e) speed
f) intensity
22. Calculate the above properties given graphs of waves, or sketch graphs of waves that
have given properties.
23. Describe how different kinds of waves propagate and carry energy through different
mediums, including what factors affect wave properties and how.
24. Describe, identify, and explain examples of the following wave phenomena:
a) interference (constructive and destructive)
b) resonance
25. Define or describe what the following terminology means:
a) electric charge
b) electric current
c) electric field
d) magnetic field
e) electromagnetic wave
26. Qualitatively describe what causes electric fields and magnetic fields, and the effects
of electric and magnetic fields on electric charges and currents.
27. describe how such a wave may be produced by an oscillating electric charge.
28. Describe and identify parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Unit 6: Quantum Physics
29. Describe experimental results that led to the quantum revolution, and explain how
they are inconsistent with classical physics.
30. Describe the following quantum phenomena and experimental evidence for them:
a) Planck’s Law
b) Photoelectric effect
c) Atomic spectra (and atomic energy levels)
d) Wave-particle duality
e) Heisenberg uncertainty principle
31. Describe the interpretation of the quantum mechanical “wave function” ψ(x,y,z,t) and
how quantum mechanics uses it to explain phenomena such as wave-particle duality
and the uncertainty principle.
32. Describe and contrast deterministic classical physics with probabilistic quantum
physics.
a) Distinguish between quantum uncertainty and classical measurement
uncertainty
33. Identify devices or technologies that affect your daily life and that were invented
thanks to our understanding of quantum physics.
Unit 7: Special Relativity
34. Know the postulates of Special Relativity
35. Define or describe what the following terminology means:
a) inertial reference frame
b) time dilation
c) length contraction
d) Lorentz factor γ
e) causality
36. Appreciate how Maxwell’s equations imply that the speed of light is constant.
37. Explain thought experiments that demonstrate:
a) Newton’s ideas of space of time are inconsistent with the idea that the speed
of light is constant.
b) The time of a moving clock is dilated.
c) Simultaneous events in one reference frame are not simultaneous in another
frame.
38. Apply time dilation (or length contraction) to compute the time (or distance) between
two events measured by different observers moving with different speeds.
39. Describe the following paradoxes and explain their resolution:
a) twin paradox
b) pole vaulter and the barn
40. Describe experimental evidence for special relativity.
41. Identify technologies that affect your daily life and that rely on our understanding of
special relativity.