PHYS 371 – Modern Physics
Discipline(s): Physics, STEM
Credits: 3
Available: fall semester 2023
Instructor: TBA
Description
This course covers Special relativity (plus a smidgen of General relativity), a few key concepts in Thermodynamics, and the historical background and Introductory ideas of Quantum mechanics. It is thus the bridge between the classical physics of the XIX century, which culminated with Maxwell’s equations beautifully encapsulating Electromagnetism, and the modern physics of the XX century.
The student will learn some of the limitations of classical physics and how they were solved with the revolutionary ideas that led to Special relativity and Quantum mechanics. The impacts of many of these ideas are not obvious at human speeds and scales, so a key goal of this course will be to start developing an intuition for concepts such as time dilation, length contraction, or tunnel effect.
Course descriptions may be subject to occasional minor modifications at the discretion of the instructor.