HONORS PS 1500 - PHYSICS IN THE PLAYS OF TOM STOPPARD

Review for Exam #5 (Physics)

Young's double-slit experiment with light

light, an electromagnetic wave

• what it is
  
• how it travels
  
• what produces light

wavelength of a wave

frequency of a wave - the number of waves that pass by per second

Einstein's postulates

• the laws of physics are the same for all observers in relative uniform motion
• the speed of light is the same for all observers in relative uniform motion

downfall of simultaneity

time dilation

length contraction

blackbody radiation

E = mc²

blackbody spectrum and its characteristics

ultraviolet catastrophe - the incorrect prediction of classical physics that there should be an infinite amount of short-wavelength light energy in blackbody radiation

quantum of energy

Planck's constant - determines the size (small!) of quantum effects

photoelectric effect - light kicks electrons out from the surface of a metal - shows that light is a stream of particles (photons)

photon - a massless particle of light, energy depends on the frequency of the light

spectrum (wavelengths) emitted by a hot gas - bright, distinct emission lines of certain specific wavelengths (colors)

Bohr model of the hydrogen atom

• what it is
  
• electron orbits
  
• how it emits or absorbs a photon

electron

proton

quantum state - one of the matter waves (probability waves) for a system (for example, the electron orbits of an atom) - a solution of the Schrödinger equation (see below)

quantum jump - a transition of a system between quantum states (as when the electron jumps between the orbits of an atom)

de Broglie's matter waves (probability waves)

momentum

wave-particle duality

• everything in nature interacts like a particle
  
• everything in nature propagates (travels) like a wave

Schrödinger equation - an equation for calculating the matter waves (probability waves) for a system

Dirac equation - included Einstein’s relativity in the Schrödinger equation - predicted antimatter

positron

antimatter

matter-antimatter annihilation

Heisenberg uncertainty principle - it is impossible to know both the exact position and the exact momentum of a particle at the same time

electron double-slit experiment - showed electron interference and that electrons propagate (travel) like waves

philosophical implications of quantum physics

• end of determinism
  
• end of objective reality

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Last modified:  Tuesday, April 14, 2009 09:11 AM