Relativity

=Relativity=

Wednesday

[|Relativistic Phenomena]



Thursday

PRACTICE TEST

1) Trace the development of the atomic models starting from Democritus and ending with our current understanding of the Standard Model. In particular, explain how each scientist relied on previous knowledge and experiments and added their own findings. 2) The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle has two different formulations. Both of which can explain how quantum tunneling works. Use each to explain how an electron can pass through a barrier that would otherwise be impenetrable. 3) How does the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle give rise to violations of the Conservation of Energy laws? Use this idea to explain Hawking radiation--the radiation of particles away from black holes. (we watched a video on this a while ago and I re-explained it in class--Steven Hawking's biography video) 4) Describe what the LHC is, how it works, and what kind of research it is involved in. 5) What is the Higgs boson and why were scientists so interested in discovering it? What is it's place in the Standard Model? In other words, how does the Higgs fit in to the Standard Model? 6) What is the Standard Model? Describe our current understanding of the atomic structure. 7) Why was the mass of the Higgs so important for the future of physics discoveries? What did the mass turn out to be and what did that say about the two competing theories? 8) In our razor blade/laser experiment the laser did not spread out horizontally until a certain point was reached. What was that mathematical point? Meaning, think of the Uncertainty Principle and answer this question mathematically. 9) Describe the nature of the correspondance between Einstein and Schrodinger regarding his wave equation and the significance of Schrodinger's Cat thought experiment. Who came up with it and what was he trying to prove with it? 10) Explain how current research into "cat states" has explored the size limit of having and keeping an object in a state of superposition. 11) Einstein's theory of relativity explored how space, time, and mass were affected by relative velocity. Explain how all three are affected as your speed approaches the speed of light. In other words, what is Lorentz Contraction, time dilation, and relative mass? 12) Why is it important to think of Einstein's Theory of Relativity when considering research into subatomic physics? In other words, when you have an atom smasher firing up, why does relativity matter? 13) What is love

MATHY PROBLEMS

13) on white board 14) on white board 15) on white board