Physics & Science Fiction OLLI Course 2007
(Updated 17 Nov 07)

Special thanks to Jim Stango, award winning Physics Demonstrator , and the physics and astronomy department for supporting this course with experiments, computer software, and DVD movies to make it real.

*Relevant Books and Websites

*The Blocked Pendulum simulation as an example of energy conservation.

*Possible orbits of the Silver Queen after she was Marooned off Vesta. This link shows results of simulations that I had intended to show in class. For simplicity movies are not shown, just the final picture with tracking ON, so that you can see the orbit, where the speed was greatest, etc.

*Lecture transparencies:

18 Oct 07
25 Oct 07
1 Nov 07
8 Nov 07
15 Nov 07

*Here are some class-handout notes for an old College of Arts and Science version of the course, with some details that we couldn't get to in the OLLI course. Click once on any link to display the PDF file, which can be printed if you like.

DESCRIBING MOTION

BASIC NEWTON


CENTER OF MASS AND MOMENTUM

ENERGY

THE VIEW FROM NONINERTIAL FRAMES (not covered in OLLI course)

FREE FALL, WEIGHT, AND ELLIPSES

HEAT, ENTROPY, AND ALL THAT

ELECTROMAGNETISM Part 1

ELECTROMAGNETISM Part 2

SPECIAL RELATIVITY

SPACE-TIME AND GENERAL RELATIVITY