This week we moved into chapter 4, which contains A LOT of interesting physics! Among other things, students see the importance of simple spring systems and how they can be used to model certain quantum mechanical phenomena like chemical bonds. The Einstein solid model is introduced, and will play a central role in chapter 12 […]
Read More Matter & Interactions I, Week 10This week, we transitioned to chapter 1 of the Matter & Interactions textbook (fourth edition). I have WebAssign problem sets for each chapter available for formative assessment and practice while working their way through the reading. I encouraged them to use the book the way it was intended to be used, specifically by stopping and […]
Read More Matter & Interactions I, Week 5Tensors have always been mysterious to me. When I was an undergraduate, I was mesmerized by the sheer elegance of tensor notation and yet didn’t understand the first thing about it. As a graduate student in physics, I was frustrated to hear every professor whom I asked to explain tensors to me reply that he […]
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