Modern Physics and Technology for Undergraduates

Lorcan M Folan, Vladimir I Tsifrinovich, Gennady P Berman

• Publisher: WSPC
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9789814723374
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Applied Sciences
• Index: Technology & Engineering

A huge chasm has developed between modern science and undergraduate education. The result of this chasm is that students who are graduating from college are unable to exploit the many opportunities offered by modern science and technology. Modern science and technology widely uses the methods of classical physics, but these modern applications are not reflected in the physics problems often suggested to students. Solving practical problems is a very effective way to inform students about contemporary science, to illustrate the important relationships between modern and classical physics, and to prepare them for future activity in the modern technological environment. The aim of this book is to try to bridge this chasm between modern science and technology and an undergraduate course in physics.

The first part of the book gives an overview of "hot" directions in modern physics and technology. The second part includes a brief review of undergraduate physics, followed by problems which are related to those directions. These problems, which are based on some of the latest developments in science and technology, can be solved using the classical physics accessible in a standard undergraduate program. Where necessary, the problems have detailed solutions.

The second edition of Modern Physics and Technology for Undergraduates includes six new subsections dealing with the most recent developments in science, and a fully updated and expanded list of problems.

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Contents:

• Introduction
• Elementary Particles, Nuclei, Atoms
• Applications of Physics
• Space
• Mechanics
• Electricity and Magnetism
• Hints to Solution
• Conclusion
• Appendices

Readership: Physics undergraduates and their lecturers.

Chapter 1

Introduction

A huge gap exists between modern science and technology and standard undergraduate physics education. Typical problems used in undergraduate physics courses often have very little in common with contemporary discoveries and advances. At the same time, many scientists would probably agree that the level of introductory undergraduate physics is sufficient to enable students to estimate and sometimes even compute some important features at the very frontier of modern physics.

The objective of our book is to bridge this gap between modern science and undergraduate physics. We believe that bridging this gap will spark interest in both physics education and the current frontiers of science. We believe that this book will help students to understand and appreciate modern scientific ideas in their future education and working lives.

The book is organized as follows: In the next three chapters, we present a short popular review of selected hot topics in modern science and technology. We hope both college students and college professors will find interesting topics in our review. Chapter 2 presents the current picture of the fundamental elementary particles and fundamental interactions. We briefly describe the three generations of fundamental elementary particles, the compound elementary particles, and the gauge fields. Then we describe the transformations of elementary particles and some of the powerful accelerators designed to study the interactions between the particles. Next, we consider atomic nuclei, nuclear reactions, and quantum properties of atoms including such intriguing topics as Schrödinger cat states. For every topic we provide basic information about the topic as well as current information from the frontiers of contemporary research. The selected topics certainly show some bias and are not intended to be a complete popular review. The same approach is used in the next two chapters.

In Chapter 3, we present some applications of modern physics. We briefly describe the principles of electron spin resonance and nuclear magnetic resonance and the ideas of spin refocusing (spin echo). Then we shift to contemporary ideas of single-spin detection including magnetic resonance force microscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy. We describe nanotubes as one of the frontiers in nanotechnology. Then we discuss superconductivity including Josephson effects and SQUIDs. From these “relatively old” phenomena we shift to frontier problems: superposition states in a nanometer-scale “superconducting box,” the Schrödinger cat state for a superconducting current, and superconducting magnets. We also mention applications of physics to fighting natural disasters. As an example, we consider tsunami and contemporary ideas for tsunami warning systems. Finally, we explain the intriguing contemporary ideas of quantum computation and quantum teleportation.

In Chapter 4 we consider astrophysical phenomena. We describe fusion reactions in normal stars, like our Sun. Then we consider the evolution of normal stars. We describe the origins and properties of white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes. Finally, we briefly consider some current space flight programs, their achievements and expectations.

Chapters 5 and 6 contain short reviews of the main topics from a standard introductory undergraduate course of physics and the problems. The suggested problems include topics at the frontier of scientific research. Some of the problems are directly connected to the topics discussed in the previous three chapters. To solve these problems a reader does not have to go through the earlier chapters. However, if a topic connected to a problem has excited you, we encourage you to read the corresponding section.

Chapter 5 contains a short review and problems based on an introductory undergraduate, calculus-based course on mechanics, including traveling and standing waves and also sound waves, that are often considered in a separate course.

Chapter 6 contains a review and problems in electricity and magnetism, including electromagnetic waves and even optical phenomena, which are often also treated in a separate course on optics.

Chapter 7 contains hints for solving the problems except for a few very simple problems.

The Appendices contain some useful data and formulas which can be used when solving the problems.

The first edition of this book was published in 2003. Since then a lot of exciting physics phenomena and technological advances have been discovered. Some of them are reflected in our text and physics problems.

In Chapter 2, we have added new sections 2.2 and 2.3. Section 2.2 describes the properties of neutrinos including neutrino oscillations. Section 2.3 is devoted to the Higgs boson. In section 2.7 we have included information about the free-electron x-ray laser and “mini-accelerators,” and in section 2.9 we included double electron β-decay.

In Chapter 3 we have added new sections 3.5 and 3.6. Section 3.5 describes the physics of photosynthesis. Section 3.6 is devoted to spintronics and digital magnetic memory. In section 3.4 we have added a description of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. In section 4.2 we have included a description of type Ia supernova which are used as “standard candles” for distance measurements to very distant galaxies. In section 4.3 we have updated information about the International Space Station. Also, we have included information about the Mars Science Laboratory, the Planck and the Kepler Missions.

In Chapter 4 we have added new sections 4.4 and 4.5 describing the search for exoplanets and the mysterious dark matter axions.

Chapter 2

Elementary Particles, Nuclei, Atoms

2.1. Fundamental Elementary Particles

The contemporary scientific picture of the Universe is rather amazing. The Universe is filled with fields. There are three “generations” of fields responsible for the fundamental elementary particles. The “first generation” is the most important. It consists of the “electron neutrino” field, the “electron” field, the “down quark” field, and the “up quark” field. The “disturbances” of these fields we accept as fundamental elementary particles: the electron neutrino (v_e), the electron (e⁻), the down quark (d), and the up quark (u). The most important properties of fundamental elementary particles are: their rest mass, electric charge, and spin.

The rest mass is literally the mass of a particle at rest. When the particle is moving its mass increases, but this effect is significant only when the particle’s speed approaches the speed of light. The SI unit of mass is the kilogram (kg). However, for fundamental elementary particles it is more convenient to use the non-SI unit of mass — the electronvolt divided by the speed of light squared (eV/c²). An “electronvolt” is the energy acquired by an electron when it is accelerated through an electric potential difference of one volt. One eV/c² is approximately equal to 1.8 × 10⁻³⁶ kg.

Measuring the electron neutrino rest mass is one of the great challenges of modern science. It is either extremely small or possibly exactly zero. The rest mass of an electron is approximately 0.51 MeV/c²(where M stands for “mega” = 10⁶). Electrons and electron neutrinos together are called “leptons” (light particles). The rest masses of the up and down quarks are much greater than the electron mass. However, their values have not been measured directly because a free quark has never been observed and current theories predict that single quarks cannot be observed.

The SI unit of electric charge is the coulomb (C). It is convenient to express the charges of fundamental elementary particles in units of the “fundamental charge” (e) which is equal to the magnitude of the electron charge, approximately 1.6 × 10⁻¹⁹ C. Unlike mass, all fundamental elementary particles have values of electric charge which are simple multiples of the fundamental charge. In units of the fundamental charge, the charge of an electron neutrino is zero, the charge of an electron is (−1), the charge of the up quark is (+2/3), and the charge of the down quark is (−1/3).

The spin of a fundamental elementary particle can be thought of very roughly as analogous to the angular momentum of a rotating ball. The SI unit for angular momentum is the joule·second (Js). It is convenient to express the spin of a fundamental elementary particle in units of Planck’s constant divided by 2π, which is approximately equal to 1.05 × 10⁻³⁴ Js. (This unit is commonly designated by the symbol

.) In units of

, all four particles of the first generation have the same spin, 1/2. Note that all particles of half-integer spin are called “fermions” after E. Fermi. Particles of integer spin are called “bosons,” after S. Bose.

The “second generation” of the fundamental fields and their disturbances (the particles) is much more exotic than the first generation. It also consists of two leptons — the “muon neutrino” (ν_μ) with zero electric charge and the “muon” (μ⁻) with electric charge (−1), and two quarks — the “strange quark” (s...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Chapter 1 Introduction
• Chapter 2 Elementary Particles, Nuclei, Atoms
• Chapter 3 Applications of Physics
• Chapter 4 Space
• Chapter 5 Mechanics
• Chapter 6 Electricity and Magnetism
• Chapter 7 Hints to Solution
• Chapter 8 Conclusion
• Chapter 9 Appendices
• Index