Rules for Extra Credit: (due Dec 23)
A 3- page paper (excluding pictures and references), written in word (12
point letters), send to me by email on a “modern physics” topic. Below are some suggestions.
Included should be:
-
2 references to the literature (popular sources
such as Physics Today, American Scientist, and Scientific America are
allowed). References should be less than
50 years old.
-
2 references to the textbook: Modern Physics by
Tippler and Llewellyn (which can be to parts we did not cover including Chap
14).
-
Correct spelling and grammar.
Suggestions:
·
Frozen Light:
Scientific American, Volume
285 Number 1 July 2001 pp.66-73: Slowing
a beam of light to a halt may pave the way for new optical communications
technology, tabletop black holes and quantum computers.
http://www.physics.hku.hk/~tboyce/sf/topics/lightfreeze/lightfreeze.html
·
Quantum Electronic Devices:
Physics Today 54, 2000, 2001, pp
46 Nanometer-scale islands that form spontaneously on a semiconductor substrate
have atomlike properties and potential applications
in optical and optoelectronic devices,quantum
computing, and information storage. http://www.physicstoday.org/pt/vol-54/iss-5/p46.html
Physics Today 43, 1990, page 74
(by F. Cappasso and S. Datta)
·
Diamagnetic Levitation
American Scientist, Sep-Oct 2004 (by Ronald E. Pelrine) Known since the 1930s, a
simple technique for suspending objects magnetically is just now finding
practical application.
·
The Fundamental Physical Constants
Physics Today, August 2002 (by P.J. Mohr and B. N. Taylor)
·
Laser Light
Scientific American, September 1968 (by A. L. Schawlow)
·
Gravity Waves:
Science News, Jan 8, 2000, p 26: Excellent article about gravity wave
detection using a two-arm interferometer similar to that used in the
Michelson-Morley experiment.
·
Divertimento for Strings
American Scientist, Nov-Dec 2005 (by Jean-Pierre Hebert) String theory
proposes a way of uniting the quantum and relativistic physical theories that
have resisted, since Einstein's day, all efforts to knit them into a unified
theory http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/47363
·
The first cold anti-hydrogen: