Lecture Notes

Revolutions in Science     (DSCY 10020 UCD)

This module considers historical aspects of modern science with an emphasis on our changing view of the universe, from the astronomy of the ancient Greeks to Galileo’s battle with the Church, from Newton’s universal law of gravity to Einstein’s relativity and the ‘big bang’ model of the cosmos. The theory of evolution, the treatment of women in research and the role of perspective in the writing of history will also feature in the module.

Poster

Link to module descriptor

Lecture timetable

Cosmology slides (pdf)

Cosmology slides (ppt)

First assignment

Second assignment

Supplementary material

Book: Introduction to the Universe (©CO’R)

Chap 1 classical cosmology; Chap 2 the runaway galaxies; Chap 3 relativity and the expanding universe; Chap 4 the big bang; chaps 5-8

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Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air

Renewable Energy Module (YR 2, BSc Phys WIT)

Homepage

Pdf

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Engineering Science for Civil Engineers (YR 1, WIT)

Basic Science

Mechanics

Heat

Light

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Engineering Science for Electronic Engineers(YR 1, WIT)

Mechanics

Fluids

Heat

Light

2017 exam

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Science, Universe and Society (YR 1)

Syllabus

Chapter headings

Lecture notes

• Introduction to cosmology I
• History-of-cosmology-2
• Revolutions-in-science

Supplementary materials

Kepler, Galileo and the birth of modern astronomy (Gingerich)

• A brief introduction to cosmology
• Slipher paper
• In the beginning (Chown)

Overview

Models of the universe

The big bang – is it true? (ppt)

In the beginning (Chown)

Course assignments

• The cosmology of Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler
• The expanding universe and the big bang

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Science, Universe and Society (Yr 2)

Module descriptor

Lecture notes (Part I, II)

Introduction-to-particle-physics

Supplementary materials

Part I: The atom

Wehr, Richards and Adams, Physics of the Atom (Chap 1)

John Gribbin, Science: A History (Chap 10)

Brownian motion – wiki

Einstein and Brownian motion (I) Spin Science magazine (Issue 13, 2005)

Einstein and Brownian motion (II)  Spin Science magazine (Issue 13, 2005)

Einstein’s 1905 Brownian motion paper

Repeating Perrin’s experiment

Repeating Perrin’s experiment (advanced)

Perrin’s Nobel Speech

Perrin’s discovery- history and philosophy of science

Atoms (Jean Perrrin) chapter 4

The quantum century (essay)

Part II : Particles and the nucleus

JJ Thomson, the electron and the atom (wiki)

JJ Thomson and the e/m experiment

Millikan oil drop experiment

Rutherford, radioactivity and the atomic nucleus

Wehr-Richards Chap 4

The Rutherford atom (1911) 

The Bohr atom (1913) 

Ernest Rutherford – wiki

The Bohr Atom (Physics World p 34)

Discovery of the neutron (summary)

James Chadwick (Ecker)

Cockroft-Walton-paper (RS)

Cockcroft-Walton paper 1932 (Nature)

The Hahn-Strassman paper (1939)

The Meitner-Frisch paper 1939

A brief history of fission and fusion

Nuclear fusion – wiki

Fission and fusion (ppt presentation)

Fusion power (powerpoint presentation)

Cern timeline: the positron

80 years of the positron

Anderson’s experiment

Muons and pions – Cecil Powell

Discovery of the pion

Strange particles

Classification of particles (Wehr, Richards and Adair)

Chap 3 (Martin) Accelerators

Chap 4 Detectors

Chap 5 Hadrons and the quark model

Chap 6 QCD, jets and gluons

Chap 7 Weak interactions

Chap 8 Charm. bottom and top

Chap 9 Electroweak unification

Chap 10 Beyond the standard model

Special relativity summary (Giancoli)

Particle problems

Sample exam questions

Ancillary reading

Presentation on Higgs (CO’R)

Neutral currents and the Z boson (hyperphysics)

The discovery of neutral currents (pdf)

Classic papers

W boson mass (Physics World 2003)

The discovery of the W and Z bosons (Rubbia) (Physics World 2003)

The discovery of the beauty baryon

Higgs paper (ATLAS) ArXiv preprint

Higgs paper (CMS) ArXiv preprint

The god particle at last  COR presentation (ppt)

Part III Climate science

Chap 1 climate vs weather chap 2 climate change chap 3 Paleoclimate

chap 4 climate models chap 5 the carbon cycle Chap 6 Forcing and feedback

Chap 7 The smoking gun Chapter 8

Supplementary materials

See Climate Science links on front page of website

Modern climate change (pdf) COR presentation

Course assignments

• The-story-of-atoms
• The-nuclear-atom 
• The-standard-model

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Atomic, quantum and solid state physics (YR 3)

Syllabus

Lecture notes

• SSP Chapter 23
• SSP Chapter 24
• Schaum problems
• Electron paramagnetic resonance

Course assignments

atomic quantum and ss autumn 2017

• SSP Assignment

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Special relativity and nuclear physics (YR 3)

SR Syllabus

SR Chapter Zero: Simple Overview

SR Chapters 1-5 

Course assignments

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Nuclear and particle physics (YR 4)

Introduction-to-particle-physics

Cern timeline: the positron

80 years of the positron

Anderson’s experiment

Muons and pions – Cecil Powell

Discovery of the pion

Strange particles

Classification of particles (Wehr, Richards and Adair)

Chap 3 (Martin) Accelerators

Chap 4 Detectors

Chap 5 Hadrons and the quark model

Chap 6 QCD, jets and gluons

Chap 7 Weak interactions

Chap 8 Charm. bottom and top

Chap 9 Electroweak unification

Chap 10 Beyond the standard model

Special relativity summary (Giancoli)

Particle problems

Sample exam questions

Ancillary reading

Presentation on Higgs (CO’R)

Neutral currents and the Z boson (hyperphysics)

The discovery of neutral currents (pdf)

Classic papers

W boson mass (Physics World 2003)

The discovery of the W and Z bosons (Rubbia) (Physics World 2003)

The discovery of the beauty baryon

Higgs paper (ATLAS) ArXiv preprint

Higgs paper (CMS) ArXiv preprint

The god particle at last  COR presentation (ppt)

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Teaching links(physics)

Final lecture; the story of atoms

http://www.nanohub.org/tools/

http://www.educypedia.be/electronics/javaanalogsemipassif.htm

http://webassign.net/pas/complete_listing.html

http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~wie/applet/pnformation/pnformation.html

http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~wie/applet/

http://jas.eng.buffalo.edu/

http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~wie/applet/applet.old

Lecture notes (1st science: semester 1)

lectures-1-5

lectures-6-9

lecture-10-16

Last year’s exam:Introductory Physics (Autumn)

Lecture notes (1st science: semester 2)

lectures 1 and 2 : Heat and temperature

Lecture 3: Change of state

Lecture 4: Heat transfer

Lecture 5: Heat transmission

Lecture 6: Gas laws

Lecture 7: Electrostatics

Lecture 8: Electric potential

Lecture 9: Electric Current

Lecture 10: Magnetism

Lecture 11: Reflection

Lecture 12: Refraction

Lecture 13: Total Internal Reflection

Lecture 14: Lenses

 

Technical publications

Recent publications