PHYS 1010: Honors Introductory Physics

Fall 2020 Syllabus

Aug 26 W What is Physics? The Big Picture. Zoom video; Professor Stephen Sekula's Welcome to Physics.

Sep 2 W Powers of Ten; Grand Challenge Example: Homeopathy. Zoom video; Homeopathy slides; Guess the fake cure.
Examples of exponential/logaritmic scales: pH including Fluoroantimonic superacid; Richter scale; Radiocarbon dating;
Decibel level for sound; Resistor (and other electronic component) values; Stellar magnitude; Equal temperment music tuning.
Ben Goldacre: Battling Bad Science on the placebo effect; CVS sued for deceiving consumers in sale of homeopathic remedies;
See also: the addictive game Universal Paperclips; Homeopathy in Futuama; Homeopathic A and E from That Mitchell and Webb Look;
My doctorate in Homeopathy - you can get one too.

9 W The Special Theory of Relativity - Experiment and Theory. Zoom video; Slides.
On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, by A. Einstein June 30, 1905;
Episode 41: The Michelson-Morley Experiment - The Mechanical Universe
Episode 42: The Lorentz Transformation - The Mechanical Universe
Episode 43: Velocity And Time - The Mechanical Universe
Episode 44: Energy, Momentum And Mass - The Mechanical Universe

16 W Supermassive Black Holes and Galaxy Evolution - guest lecture by Professor Krista Smith. Zoom video.

23 W The Slower Speed of Light - guest lecture by Professor Pavel Nadolsky. Zoom video.
There is a task to perform before midnight on 22 September 2020.
Captain Einstein movie; Captain Einstein PDF.

30 W Quantum Mechanics - guest lecture by Professor Roberto Vega. Zoom video.

Oct 7 W Collaboration meeting #1 and Chaos, fractals. Zoom video.
Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick.

14 W How to identify good sources of information - guest lecture by Sylvia Jones, SMU Science and Engineering Librarian. Zoom video.

21 W Higgs Field and Higgs Boson - guest lecture by Professor Ryszard Stroynowski. Zoom video.

28 W Dark Matter - guest lecture by Professor Jodi Cooley. Zoom video.
Professor Cooley's research web page.
SNOLAB virtual reality tour.
The reason germanium boules can not be exposed to cosmic rays.
The reason ancient lead is used in dark matter experiments.

Nov 4 W Collaboration meeting #2. Zoom video.

11 W Need for a Quantum Theory of Gravity, String Theory. Zoom video.
String Theory Pros and Cons - YouTube video by Sabine Hossenfelder
What are the Strings in String Theory - YouTube video by Matt O'Dowd
Why String Theory is Wrong - YouTube video by Matt O'Dowd
Introduction to M-theory from Wikipedia
The Bogdanov Affair from wikipedia

18 W Echoes of the Big Bang - guest lecture by Professor Joel Meyers. Zoom video.

25 W No class - Thanksgiving Break

Dec 2 W Student Presentations. Zoom video.
Science Vs podcast Coronavirus: The Mask Wars and Mini Mask Update