Click here to go to the UPSCALE home page.
The listing is alphabetical by Topic.
| Topic | Description | Author | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antimatter | Course notes from a one-hour class on antimatter for upper-year liberal arts students. (98k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Bell's Theorem | A derivation of the theorem and a discussion of the consequences. A somewhat subtle topic, but here it is treated in a non-technical fashion. It assumes knowledge of wave-particle duality such as can be found in the Double Slit or the Wave-Particle Duality documents; also assumed is considerable knowledge of the Stern-Gerlach Experiment, for which there is also a document here. (47k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Birth of Physics in the Rennaisance | A brief summary of the birth of physics from Bacon through Young, from a first year physics course that uses minimal mathematics; the entire set of materials from the course is available by clicking here. (152k) | Anthony W. Key | html |
| Chaos | A non-technical introduction to chaotic systems, based on a one-hour class given to undergraduate students at a variety of levels. (62k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Dimension | A brief non-technical discussion of measuring dimensionality, including non-integer dimensionality. Also linked to from the Chaos document. (26k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Double Slit | A discussion of the "Feynman double slit," which forms the basis of many discussions of Quantum Mechanics. The topic is quite subtle, but the document is equally accessible to students at all levels. (183k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Education | The Personal Fonemate & Other Cautionary Tales, a discussion of appropriate and inapproriate uses of computers in teaching. This is the text of a paper delivered to the 22nd International Conference on Improving University Learning and Teaching, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 1997. (43k) | David M. Harrison | |
| Education | The Physical Pendulum in an Advanced Undergraduate Course in Mechanics, a paper that appeared in the journal Computers in Physics 8, 416-419 (1995). It discusses studies of the pendulum and computer algorithms to solve the equations of the pendulum. (69k) | Solomon C. Douglas, David M. Harrison and Theodore G. Shepherd | |
| Education | Test Design, a small document of opinion and observation relating to tests and exams. (11k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Electricity and Magnetism | A brief overview of electricity, magnetism and electromagnetic waves, from a first year physics course that uses minimal mathematics; the entire set of materials from the course is available by clicking here. (5k) | Anthony W. Key | html |
| Electricity and Magnetism: History | A brief summary of the history of electricity and magnetism from the Greeks through Maxwell, from a first year physics course using minimal mathematics; the entire set of materials from the course is available by clicking here. (131k) | Anthony W. Key | html |
| Error Propagation | Propagation of errors of precision using Mathematica and the Experimental Data Analyst package. This brief discussion is suitable for students at all levels who need to do a fair amount of error propagation calculations. (8k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| The Extended Mind | Subtitled "Understanding Language and Thought in Terms of Complexity and Chaos Theory", this document shows that the origins of speech and the human mind have emerged simultaneously as the bifurcation from percepts to concepts. (42k) | Robert K. Logan | html |
| Fitting Techniques | A brief introduction to fitting data to models. The emphasis is on least-squares techniques. The level is somewhat beyond what we expect from a typical first year student. (43k) | David M. Harrison | |
| General Theory of Relativity | A discussion of the general theory of relativity, from a first year physics course that uses minimal mathematics; the entire set of materials from the course is available by clicking here. (216k) | Anthony W. Key | html |
| Heat Equation | Solving partial differential equations (PDEs) by computer, particularly the heat equation. The emphasis is on the explicit, implicit, and Crank-Nicholson algorithms. Other types of PDE's are discussed, including the Schrödinger equation. Used by upper-year physics majors and specialists. (45k) | David M. Harrison | |
| LabVIEW Tutorials | LabVIEW is a software tool from National Instruments for data acquisition and process control. The link to the left provides access to a 10-part tutorial in using LabVIEW and a one-page summary document. | James R. Drummond | |
| Magic Through Two Millenia | The Dept. of Physics offers a first year course with minimal mathematics, titled The Magic of Physics. Documents from that course appear throughout this virtual bookshelf. The link to the left gives access to these 14 documents in a more coherent order. | Anthony W. Key | html |
| Microprocessor Interfacing Techniques | The link to the left provides access to a thirteen-part set of lecture notes from a course in microprocessor interfacing; the course is taken by upper year students and by graduate students. | James R. Drummond | |
| Mirror Symmetry | Course notes from a one-hour class on mirror symmetry for upper-year liberal arts students. (61k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Monte Carlo Simulation | Discusses the computer generation of events obeying some statistical model using Monte Carlo simulation. Brief reviews of Special Relativity and High Energy physics are also provided, and a small discussion of the generation of pseudo-random numbers is included. Used by upper year physics majors and specialists. (47k) | David M. Harrison | |
| Newtonian Mechanics | A brief summary of Newtonian mechanics, from a first year physics course that uses minimal mathematics; the entire set of materials from the course is available by clicking here. (5k) | Anthony W. Key | html |
| The Poetry of Physics | This is a 20 chapter book on the ideas of physics, explained without mathematics. It also examines the role of physics in shaping both our thinking and the structure of our society. (671k in total, but the link to the left provides an index to pairs of chapters; each pair has a total filesize of about 66k.) | Robert K. Logan | html |
| Polarisation | A very brief and simple introduction to the polarisation of light. This document is also linked to from the Stern-Gerlach one. (17k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Quantum Interference | A brief summary of quantum interference and the uncertainty principle, from a first year physics course that uses minimal mathematics; the entire set of materials from the course is available by clicking here. (39k) | Anthony W. Key | html |
| Quantum Mechanics: a Poor Person's Guide | An overview of quantum mechanics, from a first year physics course that uses minimal mathematics; the entire set of materials from the course is available by clicking here. (13k) | Anthony W. Key | html |
| Quantum Mechanics: Interpretation | An overview of quantum mechanics, from a first year physics course that uses minimal mathematics; the entire set of materials from the course is available by clicking here. (10k) | Anthony W. Key | html |
| Special Theory of Relativity | A discussion of the postulates of special relativity and their consequences, from a first year physics course that uses minimal mathematics; the entire set of materials from the course is available by clicking here. (119k) | Anthony W. Key | html |
| Standing Waves | Vibrations on strings and drum heads, plus a brief discussion of Fourier analysis. The document is course notes from an upper-year liberal arts course. (106k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Stern-Gerlach Experiment | This classic experiment introduces the notion of quantum spin; it is a vital introduction to many treatments of the "Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen" paradox and to Bell's theorem. This document is equally accessible to students at all levels. (76k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Subatomic Physics | Lecture notes, problem sets (including answers), and tests for an introductory course on nuclear and particle physics for 3rd year students. The link to the left provides access to the 86 documents in this set. | David C. Bailey | html |
| Time Series Analysis | The link to the left provides access to a series of lecture notes on time series analysis from a course taken by upper year students. | David M. Harrison | |
| Visualisation and Transformation of Data | A brief discussion of techniques for exploration of data with visualisation and transformation. Not terribly technical, but does examine techniques often considered to be advanced. (51k) | David M. Harrison | html |
| Waves and Wave Motion | A brief summary of waves, from a first year physics course using minimal mathematics; the entire set of materials from the course is available by clicking here. (27k) | Anthony W. Key | html |
| Wave-Particle Duality | A brief summary of wave-particle duality, from a first year physics course that uses minimal mathematics; the entire set of materials from the course is available by clicking here. (14k) | Anthony W. Key | html |