A couple years ago, we revised the General Education requirements at the college to require all students to take a “Sophomore Research Seminar” in their second year. These classes are supposed to be writing-intensive, and introduce students to the basics of academic research. The specified course components are pretty heavily slanted toward the humanities– library… Continue reading Half-Baked Course Idea: Great Experiments
Category: Physics
Applications of Quantum Mechanics
Over at the theoretical physics beach party, Moshe is talking about teaching quantum mechanics, specifically an elective course for upper-level undergraduates. He’s looking for some suggestions of special topics: The course it titled “Applications of quantum mechanics”, and is covering the second half of the text by David Griffiths, whose textbooks I find to be… Continue reading Applications of Quantum Mechanics
Reasonably Comfortable Questions: Modern Physics
In the “uncomfortable questions” comment thread, Thony C. suggests: You say you’re teaching “modern physics” so how about a running commentary on the stuff your teaching? That’s a good suggestion, and I’ll start posting some sketchy reports soon. First, though, Bora asks: What is un-modern physics? Roughly speaking, physics gets divided into “Classical Physics” and… Continue reading Reasonably Comfortable Questions: Modern Physics
The Fine Line Between Plagiarism and Necessary Repetition
My senior thesis student this year came to my office today to ask a question as he’s starting to work on writing his thesis. I’ve given him copies of the theses of the last couple of students to work in my lab, and asked him to start on a draft of the background sections. He… Continue reading The Fine Line Between Plagiarism and Necessary Repetition
The Football Positioning System
It’s NFL playoff time, which means that sports fans will be treated to the sight of the most high-stakes farce in sports, namely the ritual of “bringing out the chains” to determine whether a team has gained enough yards for a first down. We’ve all seen this: the play is whistled dead, a referee un-stacks… Continue reading The Football Positioning System
Freezing Coherent Field Growth in a Cavity by the Quantum Zeno Effect
When I saw ZapperZ’s post about this paper (arxiv version, expensive journal version) from the group of Serge Haroche in Paris, I thought it might be something I would need to incorporate into Chapter 5 of the book-in-progress. Happily, it’s much too technical to require extensive re-writing. Having taken the time to read it, though,… Continue reading Freezing Coherent Field Growth in a Cavity by the Quantum Zeno Effect
Reflections on Quantum Reflection
I subscribe to Scientific American, but I’m usually several weeks behind on reading it, so it was only Thursday that I noticed this surprising article about particles bouncing back from attractive forces: This effect is the converse of the well-known (if no less astounding) phenomenon of quantum tunneling. If you kick a soccer ball up… Continue reading Reflections on Quantum Reflection
Official Neil B Quantum Measurement Thread
I’m a little cranky after a day of reviewing grant proposals, so it’s possible that I’m overreacting. But commenter Neil B has been banging on about quantum measurement for weeks, including not one, not two, but three lengthy comments in Tuesday’s dog post. For that reason, I am declaring this post’s comments section to be… Continue reading Official Neil B Quantum Measurement Thread
The Law of Burger Attraction
I’m sitting at the dining room table eating lunch, when I get the feeling of being watched. I look around, and see the dog across the room, curled up on her pillows staring at me. She’s quietly chanting to herself “I get stuff. I get stuff. I get stuff.” “You’re not trying that hypnosis thing… Continue reading The Law of Burger Attraction
The Age of Entanglement by Louisa Gilder
I made a run to the library last week on one of the days I was home with SteelyKid, as an excuse to get out of the house for a little while. I picked up three books: Counterknowledge, The Devil’s Eye by Jack McDevitt (an Antiquities Dealers Innnnn Spaaaaaace novel, and a good example of… Continue reading The Age of Entanglement by Louisa Gilder