PHY250

PHY250 - Journal Club Workshop
Spring 2007

Professor Steven Blusk (my home page)
327 Physics Building
e-mail: sblusk@phy.syr.edu
phone: 443-3158

Note: I do provide links to the text of the articles, but for many of them, to see the photos, you have to make a copy of the journal.

Week	Date	Topic	Resources
1	Jan 16	Course Introduction
2	Jan 23	Gravitational Waves	Introductory Material: http://sciencebulletins.amnh.org/astro/f/gravity.20041101/ - Read the "Essays" - View the video "Making Waves", - Check out the "Tour LIGO" and "Operate LIGO" interactive media. Einstein at Home: http://www.einsteinathome.org/gwaves/index.html LIGO from Caltech http://www.ligo.caltech.edu/LIGO_web/about/brochure.html http://www.ligo-la.caltech.edu/contents/overviewsci.htm The article: Gravitational Wave Observatories (pdf) Other documents Hulse & Tayor Nobel Prize, 1993, 1993 publication Putting Relativity to the Test Pound-Rebka Expeiment: Physical Review Letter from Absolute Motion Institute from focus.aps.org Test of Relativistic Gravitation with a Space-Borne Hydrogen Maser Weisberg, Taylor, Fowler, 1981, Scientific American, 245, No.4, 66-74 "Gravitational Waves from an Orbiting Pulsar"
3	Jan 30	Modern Cosmology The Fundamentals Please read through these links until you are comfortable with the basic ideas. The "Extra Readings" may help clarify some points, but does not generally present new material. You needn't read them, but you may find them helpful.	Light, and Emission and Absorption Spectra http://www.astronomynotes.com/light/chindex.htm (look at all the sections) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/origins/spectra.html (NOVA) - Do interactive "Decoding Cosmic Spectra" exercise. (very nice) Extra Reading which may be helpful http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/light/absorption.html (1 slide) Doppler Effect http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/Bima/doppler.html (Doppler Effect basics) Doppler Effect with Sounds Waves, from Fear of Physics, (nice, some interactive parts) Redshift from Wikipedia (more thorough introduction to Redshifts) Special Relativity (SR) Introduction to Special Relativity, from Wikipedia (nice introduction) Special Relativity Introduction from Univ. of Winnipeg (another nice introduction) Extra Reading which may be helpful "Dummies Guide to Special Relativity", from Tripod.com Introduction to Relativity in "How Stuff Works" Basics of Relativity (short list of basic effects of SR) General Relativity (GR) Astronomy Notes from Nick Strobel (nice few pages to introduce postulates behind GR) Extra Reading which may be helpful Relativity & the Cosmos, NOVA (1 page) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/einstein/relativity/ Introductory textbook discussion (pdf) Relativity Spacetime Wrinkles, Expo Science and Industry Time Travel in Flatland, from Caltech
4	Feb 6	Big Bang Cosmology - 1	"The Evolution of the Universe", Peebles, Schramm, Turner and Kron, Scientific American, Oct. 1994, pp 52-57. "Misconceptions about the Big Bang", Charles Lineweaver and Tamara Davis, March 2005, p 36-45
5	Feb 13	Big Bang Cosmology - 2	The article: "The Cosmic Symphony", Wayne Hu and Martin White, Scientific American, Feb. 2004, pp. 44-53. Additional resources on Cosmology, including Hubble Expansion, Cosmic Microwave Background and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, Great online resources from PBS/NOVA The Runaway Universe: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/universe/ History of the Universe: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/origins/universe.html http://www.universeadventure.org/ (very nice!) COSMONET: http://library.advanced.org/27930/ (covers many topics in Cosmology, excellent) Ned Wright's Cosmology tutorial: http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/cosmo_01.htm Cosmology Notes from Nick Strobel http://www.astronomynotes.com/cosmolgy/chindex.htm Cosmic Microwave Background CMB, from Wayne Hu, Univ of Chicago Popular talks on Cosmology, be Sean Carrol, (excellent) WMAP web site: http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni.html (excellent) click on "Universe" Dark Matter from Wikipedia.
6	Feb 20
7	Feb 27		Student Presentations
8	Mar 6
	Mar 13	No Class
9	Mar 20		Article for reading: "Elementary Particles and Forces", Chris Quigg, Scientific American Vol 252, 1995 Other resources: The Particle Adventure
10	Mar 27		Article for reading: "Elementary Particles and Forces", Chris Quigg, Scientific American Vol 252, 1995 Other resources: The Particle Adventure
11	April 3		Article: Solar Energy Conversion, from Physics Today Other resources: http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/ (very nice, very basic) "Nanocrystal Discovery Has Solar Cell Potential", from Information Week. Quantum Dots, from Wikipedia The Science and Materials behind Thermoelectrics, from Jeffrey Snyder, Caltech Solar Power from Wikipedia
12	April 10		Article: Little Big Science, Gary Stix, Scientific American, Sept 2001 Supporting documents: Nanotechnology, from Wikipedia How Nanotechnology will work, from "How Things Work" Nanotechnology, from New Scientist Tech There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom, by Richard Feynman, 1959! Magnetoresistive Effect, from Wikipedia Carbon Nanotubes, from Wikipedia
13	April 17		Article: "Advanced Technology Paths to Global Climate Stability: Energy for a Greenhouse Planet", Hoffert et al., from Science, Nov 2002 Carbon Sequestration: DOE, EPA, NETL, Article "On Leakage and Seepage from Geologic Carbon Sequestration Sites", Nuclear Energy Institute (fission) Nuclear Fusion: EFDA-JET, Wikipedia Solar Power from Wikipedia Roadmap to Decarbonization, R. Shinnar and F. Citro, from Nature (pdf)
14	April 24		No class - Mayfest
15	May 1		Article: In Pursuit of the Ultimate Lamp, M. Craford et al, Scientific American, 2001 Resources: Wikipedia Web page from Chemistry Dept at Washington Univ at St. Louis (nice) First White LED using Quantum Dots created, PhysLink, July 15, 2003 LumiLEDs, company