INSTRUCTOR'S MANUALTO ACCOMPANY

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INSTRUCTOR'S MANUAL TO ACCOMPANY
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SECOND EDITION
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Univers i ty of Wi sconsin,
Madison, Wisconsin
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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INTRODUCTION. . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 1
PACING THE COURSE AND TRUNCATED VERSIONS.............. 3
CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER CLASSROOM SUGGESTIONS.............. 4
EXAMINATIONS AND TERM PAPERS.......................... 16
Sample Examination Questions....................... 17
Semi-Take-Home Exam................................ 26
Abstracts of Term Papers........................... ' 30
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
ANSWERS TO EXERCISES IN THE TEXT...................... 34
Instructor'sManualtoaccompany
PHYSICSFORPOETS
SecondEdition
Copyright@ 1978 by McGraw-Hili, Inc, All rights reserved,
Printed in the United States of America, The contents, or
parts thereof, may be reproduced for use with
PHYSICS FOR POETS
Second Edition
by Robert H, March
provided such reproductions bear copyright notice, but may not
be reproduced in any form for any other purpose without
permisSion of the publisher,
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I
' T , ' , ~
N T ROD U C T ION
This manual gives some suggestions for the design of a
course using the text Physics for Poets, based on experi-
ence with the University of Wisconsin course on which the
text is based.
The text is explicitly aimed at students majoring in
the humanities and social sciences, that is to say, stu-
dents who have no professional need to understand physics,
who will probably never take a physics course again, and
who will probably never make any practical use of what
they learn in this course.
Keeping this in mind, remember that the students in
this course have no real need to know any particular part
of the subject matter of the course. What would be far
more significant is for them to come out of the course
with a more accurate idea of the nature of science, with
a less fearful attitude toward physics, and with a better
idea of what a scientist does for a living. If, even for
a portion of the course, a student gets really "turned
on" to the subject, gets deeply enough involved to start
thinking in unfamiliar ways, it is possible the course
will achieve its goal.
Just exactly what is likely to turn students on varies
widely with both the student's own interest and the skill
and enthusiasm of the professor. But, in general, it is
appropriate in this course to judge the student on the
basis of his best rather than his average performance.
The section of the course on relativity requires a
considerable dose of hard and deep thinking. Unless you
have had a great deal of experience in teaching relativ-
ity, you may find that you yourself have difficulty un-
derstanding relativity on the "gut" level required to
teach it in this course, when you first start teaching
from this book.
The chapters on quantum theory demand much less depth
but require a mind capable of keeping track of more loose
ends. Instructors who are not familiar with the basic
elements of quantum field theory, or who have not kept up
with recent developments in high energy physics, will
I
ha.ve some difficulty teaching chapter 19, and might be
well advised to omit it.
Very few students seem to be "turned on" by classical
mechanics. But we have made attempts at Wisconsin to
move directly into relativity without systematic devel-
opment of the classical background, filling itin as
needed. This experiment was not too successful, and is
not recommended by the author.
The most important thing to remember in this course
is not to give the student an excuse to "cop out," to
decide early in the course that physics is beyond him
and stop trying. To avoid this ithelps to start
slowly, to give assignments that are so easy the student
can hardly miss, to build up his confidence. Before
long even the most timid student will find himself
handling topics he would have been afraid to think about
a few months before.
The sections that follow give suggestions on the use
of this text based on my experience atWisconsin, where
the course has been taught since 1963. In this time it
has grown from a cozy gathering of 15 students to a
full-dress lecture of 380. Throughout this period the
students have remained the same -- an above-average but
not exceptional group of humanities and social science
majors from a first-class but not ~ l t s t state univer-
sity. Other schools using the text may have better or
weaker students or a different classroom situation, and
the suggestions offered in this manual may be of limited
utility or validity for many schools.
2
PACING THE COURSE AND TRUNCATED VERSIONS
The full content of this book represents a relatively
challenging one-semester course for the format used at
Wisconsin (3 lectures, one discussion per week). The
number of lectures devoted to each topic in this format
are indicated in the section that follows. Instructors
operating in a shorter format, or in schools on the
quarter system, may wish to consider several possible
stratagems for truncating the course:
Eliminate Chapter 19. The book reaches a reasonably
1.
satisfying conclusion with non-relativistic quantum
theory at Chapter 18. This is especially recom-
mended if the instructor is not familiar with
Feynman diagrams and the quark model.
2.
Assign one or more chapters for independent reading.
Chapters 13 and 18 are quite suitable for this pur-
pose. It is also possible to use Chapter 5 in this
fashion.
Skip either quantum mechanics or relativity. The
3.
former route terminates with Chapter 12. The
latter uses chapters 1 through 7 and 13 through 19.
In this case, itwill be necessary to include a lec-
2
ture on the meaning of E =mc , which is needed in
order to understand Chapter 19.
3
C HAP T E R - B Y - C HAP T E R
C LAS S ROO M S U G G EST IONS
CHAPTER 1 (3 lectures)
Topics: Introduction to the concepts of velocity and ac-
celeration; Galileo's description of falling body
motion as an example of the scientific method.
This is a very difficult chapter. If itis not treated
with great care and gone through slowly, you may lose some
of the students from the outset.
What makes itdifficult is the concept of acceleration,
which may be the most confusing concept in the course for
students with a weak mathematical background. It is best
to put itacross with a lot of examples, emphasizing the
sign rather than the magnitude of velocity and accelera-
tion. For example, when a car is braking, acceleration
is negative, velocity is positive, and so on through many
such cases.
Italso sometimes helps to give examples of second de-
rivatives from areas outside physics. For example, the
stock market rose 5 points today and 15 the day before;
thus, the market is rising (positive velocity) but the
"boom" is tapering off (negative acceleration).
Itmay also help to cover this topic through interpre-
tation of graphs, pointing out the relation between slope
and velocity, curvature and acceleration. But at least
one class period will have to be devoted to this topic
alone.
It is much easier to drive home the scientific point
raised in the chapter -- that while Galileo was only try-
ing to describe the motion of a falling body, even that
simple process is a pretty abstract business. Here a few
extremely simple demonstrations can be very helpful. For
example, demonstrate the fall of various objects, such as
coins, crumpled-up paper, etc. The difference between a
balloon inflated and the same balloon deflated, a paper
crumpled and the same paper flat, etc., can persuade the
student that a lot more variables than mere weight are
4
involved in falling-body motion. The "punch line" is that
what Galileo is saying is that falling-body motion would
depend on none of these variables, were itnot for the
effects of the air.
Itis also interesting to repeat Galileo's inclined
plane experiment. You need a very flat, rigid, grooved
board or metal beam at least 10 feet long, set at such an
angle that a ball takes about 10 seconds to roll the full
length. A large coffee pot or picnic jug with a spigot,
and a graduated cylinder, make a reasonable water clock.
with a littlepractice you can achieve an accuracy level
of about a quarter of a second this way.
CHAPTER 2 (2 lectures)
Topics: Projectile motion; momentum conservation (two-
bodies, one-dimensional motion)
projectile motion is analyzed using three concepts:
the principle of inertia and the mechanical principle of
superposition, introduced in this chapter, and the de-
scription of falling body motion from the preceding chap-
ter. Be sure those principles get across and emphasize
that while itis possible to get a complete descripti'on
of the combined motion as a parabola, in practical terms
one need not do this -- itis sufficient to treat the
horizontal and vertical motions separately. If an appa-
ratus that produces a collision between a projectile and
a freely falling ball released at the same instant is
available, this makes a very convincing demonstration.
Demonstrations of momentum conservation with an air
table are also useful in this portion of the course.
CHAPTER 3 (2 lectures)
Topic: Newton's laws
No new mathematical concepts are introduced in this
section. Emphasize that Newton's crucial contribution
was the realization that change in motion results only
from an interaction of two objects, and that the differ-
ence in how each of them is affected results from a dif-
ference in mass rather than any asymmetry in the inter-
action.
5
Another point that deserves emphasis is that Newton's
Laws are not so much generalizations from experience as
the adoption of a scheme in which to interpret that ex-
perience. Apart from the assumption that mass is an in-
trinsic quality of a body which does not change with the
situation, they have no empirically falsifiable content.
It is the possibility of discovering laws of force that
is the true test of the Newtonian scheme.
If you are intending to cover chapter 19, it is a good
idea to stress at this point that Newton's laws can be
regarded as a recipe for calculating momentum transfer,
which permits a neat comparison with Feynman diagrams.
In circular motion, the crucial task is to convince
the student intuitively that a change of direction is an
acceleration. One example that helps some students see
this is to describe a right-angle turn first as bringing
an object to a stop, then bringing it back up to speed
at right angles. Curved motion is then doing the two
simultaneously rather than sequentially.
Qualitative arguments of this sort are more important
than emphasizing the formula a = v
2
/R. However, students
tend to have strong intuitions about this formula based
on their experience as drivers, and it sometimes pays to
draw on this experience.
CHAPTER 4 (2 lectures)
Topics: Gravitation; Kepler's laws; the acceleration of
the moon
This chapter builds toward the climax of the computa-
tion of the moon's acceleration. The section on Kepler's
laws shows that the motion of the planets can be accounted
for by an inverse-square force directed toward the sun.
That this has anything at all to do with gravitation on
the surface of the earth is based solely on the fact that
the moon's acceleration turns out right.
It is important to emphasize that the success of the
moon calculation, plus the neat way the theory fits into
Newtonian mechanics, made believers out of the whole sci-
e n t i ~ i community, even though the claim that gravity was
a universal force proportional to the product of the
6
masses of the bodies involved had little empirical sup-
port until the Cavendish experiment.
CHAPTER 5 (3 lectures)
Topic: Energy conservation in mechanics and in physics
as a whole
Energy, more than any other concept, is the unifying
feature of physical science, and thus this chapter is
rather full. Fortunately, it is one in which the stu-
dent's intuition is often well-developed.
Some instructors may be disturbed by my contention
that energy is not merely an extension of Newtonian mech-
anics, but a conceptually new approach to motion that can
be connected to the Newtonian scheme through the concept
of work as a measure of energy transfer. I have tried
not to lean too heavily on this point, and thus you may
feel free to adopt a different point of view.
Students in the humanities, especially literature,
tend to get quite interested in this chapter, because of
the connection with romanticism.
Most of the difficulties with this chapter lie in the
concept of potential energy. Some students find it too
abstract; it may help to tell them that the concept of
field, introduced in the next chapter, will make it seem
a bit more real. Others are disturbed by the arbitrari-
ness of the reference point for zero potential energy.
For these students, emphasize that potential energy is
never directly observed, but only inferred from changes
in kinetic energy. Finally, the reference point at in-
finity for action-at-a-distance forces disturbs many
students, as does the accompanying result that potential
energy for an attractive force is always negative. Here
one can cite the argument that no force and no potential
energy should come at the same place in a "natural"
scheme of things.
7
CHAPTER 6 (2 lectures)
Topics: Electricity and magnetism; the concept of fields;
philosophical consequences of deterministic laws in
physics
There is nothing terribly difficult in this chapter.
By now most students should be sufficiently conditioned
to the physicist's point of view to at least be tolerant
of the argument that if the field has to take up momentum
and energy to save the conservation laws for these quan-
tities and Newton's laws, then the field must in some
sense be "real."
Some of the better students may find the rather sketchy
introduction to electricity a bit too open-ended to be
satisfying. It might not hurt to give such students sup-
plementary reading in a conventional physics text.
The usual amber rod, cat's fur, and pith-ball demon-
strations of electrostatics can be effective here.
CHAPTER 7 (1 lecture)
Topics: Wave pulses; wave superposition; periodic waves;
standing waves; two-slit interference
This chapter stands alone as an introduction to waves.
It makes no reference to periodic motion, nor does it
mention the trigonometric functions, an omission which a
few superior students may find dissatisfying.
The emphasis of the chapter is on wave laws themselves,
independent of the underlying dynamics of the wave-propa-
gating medium. Thus, such traditional topics as the
distinction between longitudinal and transverse waves are
also omitted.
The major goal of the chapter is for the student to
understand standing waves and two-slit interference.
At Wisconsin we have found the text material is rea-
sonably self-explanatory. The best use of lecture time
is for demonstrations.
For two-slit interference, a pair of loudspeakers
about six feet apart driven by the same monotone audio
8
source gives a striking effect. A low-wattage laser pro-
duces spectacular two-slit fringe patterns. A ripple
tank can also be effective, but to make the effect really
convincing takes a good ripple tank and a reasonable
amount of practice.
A "slinky" spring toy mounted between two fixed posts
is a good way to demonstrate standing waves. But far and
away the most popular and effective demonstration we have
used at Wisconsin is the observation of a mechanically
driven vibrating rope in various modes with a strobe
light. This both enables the students to really see
standing wave patterns and convinces them that standing
waves are beautiful, which is a great motivational aid.
CHAPTER 8 (2 lectures)
Topic: The Michelson-Morley experiment
This is the first of four chapters on relativity and,
as was the case with the first of the chapters on clas-
sical mechanics, contains most of the math needed to un-
derstand the subject. Continually emphasize to the stu-
dent that if he has a feeling for how y varies with vic
he will need no further mathematical skills to follow the
remaining three chapters on relativity. At the risk of
boring the better students, devoting one class session to
a slow, careful review of the derivation, with careful
and repeated explanations of the motivation for every
step, seems to help reassure the students that relativity
will not prove mathematically beyond them.
CHAPTER 9 (3 lectures)
Topics: Non-quantitative arguments for time dilation;
the FitzGerald contraction; relativity ofsimultaneity;
and uniqueness of the speed of light
It is in this chapter that the battle to teach relativ-
ity is won or lost, and it calls for all of the teacher's
skill. The method used in the text is the analysis of
gedanken experiments, and the best use of classroom time
is to repeat these examples, answer questions about them,
and add further examples. I have found that every stu-
dent seems to have a different point at which it suddenly
hits him what relativity is all about; each example makes
a few new "converts."
9
1ft,I
The first step is to convince the student that if two
observers relatively in motion are to agree on the speed
of one and the same light signal, they must obviously
disagree about some of the things that go into measuring
that speed. For the time being, one must "suspend dis-
belief," as in the theatre; one must not inquire how it
is possible for two observers to disagree on such elemen-
tary matters, but merely whether it is possible to live
with these disagreements.
To provide reassurance to the students, continually
remind them that relativistic disagreements apply only to
remote events, events displaced from one another along
the line of relative motion. Furthermore, two observers
at the same point will always agree on what they are see-
ing at that instant; it is when they try to interpret the
past phenomena responsible for what they now observe that
disagreement arises. Finally, each is perfectly capable
of reconstructing the other's point of view, so there is
no "communication gap." Lest this make it seem as if
relativistic effects are merely illusory, the last ex-
ample offered in the chapter is that of the "garage para-
dox."
The most useful gedanken experiment to add to those in
the text is Einstein's own original one, that of a train
that is struck at both ends by lightning flashes, simul-
taneously in the reference frame of the train. A moving
and a stationary observer, both of whom are at the center
of the train when the flashes arrive, agree that the
flashes appear to be simultaneous. The observer on the
ground concludes that since the lightning bolt at the
front of the train was closer, it must have come later.
The analysis can be extended. Suppose that clocks
synchronized in the train's rest frame are placed at
either end of the train and are stopped by the lightning
bolts. Again, the observers agree that the two clocks
stopped at the same setting. After all, they are no
longer running and can be brought to the same point and
compared directly. The observer on the train feels that
this is because well-synchronized clocks were hit by
truly simultaneous lightning bolts. The observer on the
ground feels that unsynchronized clocks were stopped by
non-simultaneous lightning bolts.
10

If the lightning bolts leave marks on the railroad
ties, the stationary observer feels they are farther
apart than the length of the train. Again, the observer
on the train agrees, but he sees it as a consequence of
the fact that the rails had shrunk, whereas the observer
on the ground sees it as a consequence of the fact that
the lightning bolts were non-simultaneous, which more
than compensates for the shrinkage of the train.
To emphasize the contrast with the expected non-
relativistic behavior, point out that the thunder claps
produced by these flashes do not arrive simultaneously at
the center of the train, and there is no disagreement be-
tween the moving and the stationary observer on this
point.
CHAPTER 10 (3 lectures)
Topics: Quantitative basis for relativistic effects;
space-time; the twin paradox
The first part of this chapter simply demonstrates
that the factor Y derived in Chapter 8 gives the correct
quantitative result for the time dilation and FitzGerald
contraction. Thus, if the proper groundwork has been
laid, the mathematics in this chapter will present no
difficulties.
A more rigorous derivation of the clock-setting prob-
lem can be done as follows: consider the measurement of
the speed of a light signal moving the length of a train,
using clocks at both ends of the train. After taking
into account the shrinkage of the train and the clock
slowdown, a stationary observer still finds a discrepancy,
as a result of the
Be prepared to go over the twin paradox carefully;
most students are particularly intrigued by this example.
CHAPTER 11 (2 lectures)
Topics: Relativistic mass increase and the survival of
Newton's laws; mass-energy equivalence; experimental
confirmation of special relativity
This chapter is not particularly difficult. Its main
objective is to take some of the mystery away from E = mc
11
2
.
by showing how universally the formula applies.
Be sure to emphasize that making mass a function of
velocity is the only conceptual modification in Newton's
mechanics required by relativity, aside from, of course,
using the appropriate space-time coordinates and trans-
formations.
The only puzzling point for average students is why
rest mass should exist at all -- why should an object
have energy simply by virtue of its existence? Examples
useful here are those where what appears as rest mass
when a system is viewed as a whole from outside becomes
partly dynamical when the system is analyzed into its
component parts. The best example is binding energy of a
nucleus.
CHAPTER 12 (4 lectures)
Topics: More detail on twin paradox; genera1 relativity;
black holes; cosmology
This chapter makes severe demands on the students'
power of abstract reasoning. It helps to reassure them
that not even experts in the field can truly "visualize"
curved space-time. It is also important to stress that
this is an alternative to the newtonian approach to
motion; where newtonianism calls for force laws, general
relativity calls for theories in which fields produce
curvature of space-time. Fortunately, you can exploit
the students' inherent curiosity about black holes and
the big bang.
CHAPTER 13 (1 lecture)
Topics: Ancient atomic theories and the phases ofmatter;
chemical evidence for atomism; kinetic theory of gases;
atomic size; electrochemistry; the discovery of the
atom
This chapter provides a very sketchy introduction to
the emergence of the atomic theory in classical physics
and chemistry. As such, it presents no difficulties to
the average student, nor is it important that the material
in it be well mastered. Its major purpose is to provide
a proper historical starting point for the quantum theory.
12
____~ d : : . . _ _ .... _
In a longer course, you may use this chapter as a peg
on which to hang a more thorough and general survey of
physical science from supplementary materials.
CHAPTER 14 (2 lectures)
Topics: Plum-pudding and planetary atomic models; spectra
and spectral laws; the Rutherford-Geiger-Marsden
experiments
Here the student is introduced to what modern experi-
mental physics is all about, as the experimental technique
and interpretation are fully modern.
Some students are puzzled by the l/(sin ~ )4 law, which
seems unnecessarily complicated for such a simple situa-
tion to someone without much mathematical experience.
There is little value in deriving it, and that is why the
derivation is omitted here. But a la-minute rundown of
the factors that go into the derivation might remove the
mystery, while persuading the student that quite simple
situations can quickly get mathematically messy, a valu-
able lesson to learn.
Keep in mind that to many students, the process of
plotting measurements on a graph and seeing which of two
curves fits best is a new experience that may require
some explanation.
CHAPTER 15 (3 lectures)
Topics: Planck's theory; Einstein's,theory of the photo-
electric effect; the Bohr model ofhydrogen
This chapter depicts the quantum theory in its early
years, when it was based on empirically successful but
arbitrary assumptions. If a student complains that he
doesn't get the connections between all these ideas,
point out that this is an accurate reflection of the at-
titude of the physicists he's reading about.
-The Planck theory is best sloughed off as quickly as
possible. If you wish to go into it at somewhat greater
depth, the treatment in Gamow and Cleveland, Physics:
Foundations and Frontiers (Prentice-Hall, 1960), p. 378.,
is suitable for students on this level. The photoelectric
effect is pretty straightforward. The Bohr theory,
13
however, is more difficult and must be gone over slowly.
Keep the diagram at the top of page 190 in mind as you
plan your lectures, as it is easy for the students to
lose the thread of the rather complex paths of reasoning
leading to the Bohr theory. It is also wise, in terms of
the future development of the theory, to emphasize the
difference between the idea of stationary states, which
survives in the later versions of the theory, and Bohr's
circular orbits, which do not.
This is also a good point at which to begin working
numerical examples in class to give the students a feel-
ing for the magnitudes of the quantities involved.
CHAPTER 16 (3 lectures)
Topics: The DeBroglie hypothesis; Shroainger's equation;
wave equivalent ofBohr orbits; expansion of the wave
packet
In this chapter the quantum theory advances one level
deeper; the wave theory appears, removing the arbitrary
character of the earlier theories, but it still remains
to be interpreted.
The only difficulty students tend to have with this
part of the story of quantum mechanics comes from the
fact that it is hard to visualize three-dimensional
standing wave patterns such as are obtained in the hydro-
gen atom. We have found the following derr,onstration
helps a great deal. Mount on a drum a loose rubber drum-
head. Drive it with a speaker inside the drum and ob-
serve it with a strobe light. The resulting undulations
are very striking.
CHAPTER 17 (3 lectures)
Topics: The probability interpretation of the wave
function; the uncertainty relations; consequences of
the uncertainty relation for behavior of free parti-
cles and electrons in Bohr orbits
This chapter is the real heart of the section on the
quantum theory. The probability interpretation should
pose no difficulties, but the uncertainty relations are
more of a problem, not because they are mathematically
difficult, but because students may have a hard time
14

understanding what they are all about. It may be neces-
sary to carefully explain what you mean by "error" and
"deviation." The more examples you can give in class,
the better.
If you have an unusually bright group of students, the
wave interpretation of the uncertainty principle can be
explored. Show how a finite wave packet can be construc-
ted from a spread of close wavelengths. The easiest way
to do this is to start with two close wavelengths. The
resulting beat pattern is a "string" of wave packets.
The wave halfway between them in wavelength suppresses
the odd wave packets, and further "in-between" wave-
lengths suppress others, until but one is left. Then you
can relate the spread in wavelength (momentum) to the
size of the packet (position).
CHAPTER 18 (lor more lectures)
Topics: Quantum-mechanical interpretation ofa two-slit
interference experiment with electrons; the Copenhagen
interpretation; disagreements with this interpretation
The two-slit interference experiment is used as a
gedanken experiment to show the distinction made in quan-
tum mechanics between what is knowable in principle and
what is actually known from measurement. If you have
some philosophically sophisticated students in your class,
this can lead to some lively discussions. But the weaker
students will simply learn nothing from this chapter.
CHAPTER 19 (4 lectures)
Topics: Quantum field theory; accelerators; the quark
model; cosmological implications
Instructors who are not themselves particle or nuclear
physicists, or who do not at least follow particle
physics on a Scientific American level, may have some
trouble teaching this chapter and may be well-advised to
omit it. The exciting part is the possibility of ex-
plaining subsequent developments in the field, giving
students a sense of the swiftness of scientific progress
once a breakthrough is made. The hardest part of the
chapter is the quantum field theory; the fact that the
Heisenberg relations allow the field to "borrow" energy
to create field quanta. Once over this hump, the rest of
the material is straightforward.
15
E X A MIN A T ION S
AND T E R M PAP E R S
For the type of student who takes this course, the
traditional physics examination consisting exclusively of
mathematical problems is simply not suitable. While such
students can often work quite challenging problems, they
can rarely do so within the time limits imposed by an
exam. Most problems sufficiently simple to put on an
exam for this course test very little of significance.
When the course at Wisconsin is not too large, we use
exams consisting of a mixture of three kinds of questions.
First, there are problems, usually closely related to
ones given as homework and broken down into steps to help
lead the student to the correct route to solution. Then
there are short-answer, multiple-choice, etc., questions
designed to test qualitative understanding of the predic-
tions of physical laws or the logical interrelationships
of those laws. Finally, there are short essay questions,
similar to those given in the Appendix of the text. Of
course, the grading of such questions tends to be rather
subjective.
In a school with an honor system, take-home exams are
a useful device. At Wisconsin we have evolved a "semi-
take-home" exam. In this type of exam, the student is
given a set of problems to solve or questions to answer.
He then is given a multiple-choice or short-answer exam
in class to test his knowledge of the areas he has
studied.
Regardless of the type of exam used, itis the author's
personal inclination to make all examinations open-book,
ifonly to persuade the student that learning physics is
not just a matter of memory work.
When the course is not too large at Wisconsin, we
assign term papers. At our institution, most humanities
and social science majors do a great deal of writing for
courses in their own discipline and feel confident of
their abiLity to tackle such projects. The term paper
also serves to stimulate the student to think more deeply
16
about some topic in the course.
The technique used was to leave the topic open but in-
form the student that the paper was supposed to show that
he could incorporate something from the course into his
own personal frame of reference. This is too vague a
charge for most students, so itwas illustrated by giving
out abstracts of some of the more successful term papers
from previous years as examples. A group of such ab-
stracts appears after the sample exam questions.
SAMPLE EXAM QUESTIONS
The questions below have all been used with success at
Wisconsin. Five to seven such questions, suitably bal-
anced for difficulty, constitute an hour-long exam. We
generally strive for an exam which, given generous partial
credit, gives average scores of 70 to 75 -- high enough to
avoid discouraging most students, while low enough to make
the better students stand out.
Some of the questions and exercises from the text have
been used as examination questions also.
Classical Mechanics
1) Ga1i1eo found a ball rolled down an inclined plane
a distance proportional to __~ ___________________
whereas had Aristotle been correct, the distance
would have been proportional ~
(2) Newton's law of gravitation can be reduced to the
following four statements:
(a) A falling body experiences a force proportional
to its mass.
(b) And also proportional to the mass of the body
with which it is interacting.
(c) The force acts along the line joining the cen-
ters of the objects.
(d) And is inversely proportional to the square of
the distance.
Ga1i1eo's law of falling body motion supports
statement
17
Kepler's laws of planetary motion support state-
ments and
~ ~
The agreement of the moon's observed acceleration
with that predicted from the acceleration of fall-
ing bodies supports and I
(3) Consider the formula
1 2
2 mv + mgh E
This formula represents:
(a)
The law of momentum conservation.
(b)
The law of energy conservation for an object
moving subject to gravity.
(c)
The law of energy conservation for an object
moving subject to any form of potential energy.
(d)
A combined statement of Newton's first and
second laws.
The term 1 2 is called , and mgh is
2' mv
called
~ :
The formula can be used to calculate the maximum
height to which an object can rise by setting the
variable equal to
( 4)
A falling object has reached terminal velocity
when two forces are equal. What are these forces?
(5) Fill in the blanks in the statements below with the
letters corresponding to the appropriate points on
Graph 1.
'I
l
c
;:JI ~ ~ /F
J
~
jl

1 ~
It
r"
;-;rne"
18
(a) The velocity is positive between and
, and also between and
(b) The acceleration is positive at and
(c) The acceleration is negative at and
(d) The motion (instantaneously) comes to a halt at
I and
(e) The highest velocity is found at
(6) The Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco has an outside
elevator with one transparent wall. Suppose that
while the elevator is rising at constant speed, a
passenger drops a cigarette lighter, which drops
straight to the floor of the elevator. Describe
the motion of the lighter:
(a) As seen by the passengers on the elevator.
(b) As seen by a nosy resident of an adjoining
building.
( 7) The following two statements could not be directly
tested at the time they were originally made. Cite
indirect evidence or plausible arguments for their
validity:
(a) Galileo's assertion that all bodies fall at the
same rate in a vacuum.
(b) Newton's assertion that the force of gravity on
a falling rock is proportional to the mass of
the earth.
(8) A ball dropped from a height qf 9 meters rebounds
to a height of 4 meters.
(a) What fraction of its energy is lost in the re-
bound?
(b) Its speed immediately after leaving the floor
is what fraction of its speed just before
striking the floor?
(9) A pendulum consisting of a string and a sticky clay
ball is raised to a height 4 meters above its normal
horizontal position and allowed to swing. At the
bottom of its swing itstrikes and sticks to an
identical clay ball, carrying itup on the other
side.
(a) Which conservation laws apply during (i) the
downswing, (ii) the collision, and (iii) the
19
---
----
upswing?
(b) How far does the pendulum rise on the upswing?
(10) How long does ittake a freely falling body to fall
125 meters? How fast is itthen going? (Use g =
10 m/sec
2
.)
(11) A car drives off a vertical cliff. Two seconds
later ithits the ground, 30 meters from the base
of the cliff. (Use g ~ 10 m/sec
2
.)
(a) How high was the cliff?
(b) What speed was the car going?
(c) Draw a vector diagram to find the velocity
vector for the car at the instant ithit the
ground.
(12) A body of mass 5 kg, speed 6 m/sec strikes a sta-
tionary body of mass 1 kg. This collision slows it
down to 4 m/sec.
(a) How fast is the 1 kg body moving after colli-
sion?
(b) Is the collision elastic? Explain why or why
not.
(c) Suppose the bodies had instead stuck together.
What speed would the combined mass be moving?
Waves
(1) Cross out from the listbelow those wavelengths
that cannot exist as standing waves on a string 1
meter long:
1/4 m 2/3 m 11.:! m
1/3 m 3/4 m 2 m
1/2 m 1 m 3 m
(2) In the two-slit interference experiment, the point
directly opposite the speakers and halfway between
them:
(a) is always a maximum.
(b) is always a minimum.
(c) can be either a maximum or minimum, depending
on wavelength.
(d) cannot be either a maximum or minimum.
20
, !i
,.'.:
, .
....
1
...1' .
'.
"., .........
...
,
.'
.
,~
t:,
~ ;
" t,
,.,.
The speed of sound is about 330 m/sec. The A below
(3)
middle C has a frequency of 220 Hz. What is the
wavelength of A below middle C?
Two hi-fi speakers sounding the same sustained note
(4)
are 3 m apart. An observer walking along a line
4 m from the speakers hears a maximum when he is
halfway between the two speakers, but directly in
front of either he hears a minimum. What is the
wavelength of the note?
Relativity
(See also the "semi-take-home" exam in the next
section.)
(1)
A spaceship passes an ob-
@ ~ ~
server S at a speed of
6/10 the velocity of
\
@ /'
light. There are three
clocks on board the
spaceship -- A, B, and C,
as shown. They have been
synchronized by the crew of the spaceship. As
clock C passes the observer, he sets his clock by
it. Answer the next three questions from the point
of view of observer S, at the instant depicted in
the picture.
(a) How do the readings of clocks A and B compare?
A is faster
-----
B is faster
same
How do the readings of clocks A and C compare?
(b)
A is faster
C is faster
same
(c) How do the readings of clock A and S's clock
compare?
A is faster
S is faster
same
On the listbelow, check those quantities on which
(2)
S and the spaceship crew agree (there is more than
one correct answer).
21
----
----
---
---
---
---
-----
-----
_____ The length of the spaceship
The width of the spaceship
The time elapsed while the spaceship is
passing S
____ The relative speed (0.6 c)
The rate at which clock S is running
The rate at which clocks A, B, and Care
running
The velocity of light
The mass of the spaceship

(3) One or more of the following statements is an in-
correct application of the mass-energy equivalence.
Mark each one "T" or "F" and explain below the flaw (
in the one or ones marked "F".
(a) The combination products of a fire weigh less
than the fuel and oxygen that went into it.
(b) Ifa fire takes place in a sealed insulated box
so that neither heat nor material can escape,
the weight will not change.
(c) By virtue of its motion around the sun, the
earth appears (to an observer not sharing this
motion) heavier than itwould if standing still.
(d) All objects on the earth share in the mass in-
crease mentioned in (c) above, and a very
light absorptions, or a mixture?
On the basis of the Ritz principle, the follow-
(b)
ing relation holds for the frequency of light
in transitions A, B, and F:
= 'VB + 'VF
'VA
write down at least four more correct relation-
ships of this type.
Einstein's formula for the photoelectric effect is
( 2)
E = hv - W.
(a) The symbol E stands for:
(i) The average energy of electrons emitted.
(ii) The maximum energy of electrons emitted.
(iii) The energy of the light quantum.
(b) The symbol W stands for the work required to:
(i) Produce one quantum of light.
(ii) Create an electron.
(iii) Overcome the forces holding the electron.
Rank the following developments in the history of
( 3)
the quantum theory in the order they happened (1
for the earliest, etc.).
sensitive scale on the earth could detect this.

Bohr's theory of the hydrogen atom.
(e) Light can be used to transport mass from one The Geiger-Marsden experiments.
place to another.
"

:;
... ,,:.
Planck's theory of incandescent light.
'< '
DeBroglie's wave-particle hypothesis.
Einstein's photoelectric theory.
The Schrodinger equation.
The uncertainty principle.

(4) Explain how Newton's laws must be modified in the
i
l

light of relativity. Below is a list of empirical results important in

( 4)
the history of the quantum theory:
I, '"
(5) Calculate Yfor v = 0.6 c.
(a) The Geiger-Marsden alpha-scattering experiment
(b) Millikan's photoelectric experiment
Quantum Theory
(c) Balmer's formula for hydrogen spectrum lines
r- (d) Davisson's experiments with electron scattering
1) The figure at the right
(e) The Franck-Hertz experiment
shows six transitions among
(f) The absence of certain emission lines in absorp-
the first four Bohr or-
tion line spectra
bits in the hydrogen atom.
(g) The Ritz principle
Ca) Are the transitions
shown light emissions,
23
22
-----
Mark which of the above results is best described
by each statement below:
The confirmation of DeBroglie's hypothesis.
_____ The first proof that quantization applied to
a process not involving light.
_____ Two minor facts explained naturally by
Bohr's theory, but awkward in a plum-pudding
atom.
(5) In Bohr's theory of the hydrogen atom, what physical
significance is attached to the integers nand m in
the Balmer formula (p. 177 of the text)?
(a) The number of photons emitted in the jump that
produces the spectrum line.
(b) The energies of the Bohr orbits involved in the
jump that produces the line.
(c) The angular momenta of the Bohr orbits in-
VOlved, in units o f ~
(d) None; they are pure numbers used to count orbits.
(6) Which of the following features of the Bohr theory
of the hydrogen atom was eliminated or signifi-
cantly modified in the Schrodinger picture?
(There may be more than one correct answer.)
(a) Circular orbits.
(b) Use of E =hv to predict energy of the photon.
(c) Quantum jump.
(d) Energies of electron states.
(7) Explain what is meant by the word "uncertainty" in
the term "uncertainty principle."
(8) Attack or defend the following interpretation of
the two-slit interference experiment, taking the
usual quantum mechanical point of view: "The
electron actually passes through both slits
simultaneously."
(9) Show how the "expanding wave packet" of a free
particle is explained in terms of the uncertainty
relations.
(10) If E is the amount of energy required to raise an
electron from the lowest Bohr orbit to the second
24
,
'I' orbit, how much energy is required to remove the
electron from the atom altogether?
Quantum Field Theory and Quarks
The original Gell-Mann-Zweig theory had only three
(1)
quark flavors.
How many mesons are possible in this theory?
(Show work or list)
How many baryons are possible?
(Show work or list)
(meson,
Give the electric charge and particle type
(2)
com-
baryon, antibaryon) of the following quark
binations.
type
charge
uc
\
I
sss
usd
ss
expect to
Which of the above particles would you
to a stable
last the shortest time before changing
combination or annihilating?
Explain why.
25
Which would last the longest time?
Explain why.
(3) The original Gell-Mann-Zweig quark theory was in-
vented mainly to explain the
(a) annihilation of electron by positrons
(b) relationship between quarks and leptons
(c) existence of the known mesons and baryons
(d) discovery of the IjJ particle
(4) Which of the following features was not present in
this original version of the theory?---
(a) Quarks are fundamental, point-like particles
(b) Quarks have electric charges
(c) Only (qqq, qqq, qq) combinations are allowed
(d) Mesons and baryons have "excited" states
(5) The obstacle to acceptance of the quark theory
has been the
(a) failure to observe free quarks
(b) fractional charges of the quarks
(c) unresolved relationship between quarks and
leptons
(d) inability to fit the electron into the theory
(6) The clue that quarks are related to leptons is
that both
(a) have similar masses
(b) have the same electric charges
(c) are transformed by the weak interaction in
similar fashion
(d) are found in mesons and baryons ,.
"SEMI-TAKE-HOME" EXAM ON WAVES AND RELATIVITY
The following six questions are handed out in class
a week before the exam.
(1)
Consider problem 11 from the homework in Chapter 8.
What WOuld happen ifone changed the wavelength?
In particular, what would happen ifthe wavelength
were 1 meter?
(2) Newtonian mechanics is based on Newton's three laws
plus the definition of mass and the principle of
superposition. Consider whether each of these
principles is carried over into relativity intact,
modified, or discarded.
(3) Suppose relativity had been wrong and Maxwell right
all along. Consider the example of setting clocks
at the ends of a train to a light flash in the
middle of the train. The train is moving "ab-
solutely" -- i.e., moving with respect to the
aether -- and the ground is "absolutely" at rest.
Do the observers disagree about the clock settings?
Are the clocks synchronized?
(4) Now, back to relativity. Consider measuring the
speed of light by timing a signal from the rear of
the train, off a mirror at the front" and back to
the rear, using a single clock at the rear of the
train. How is this measurement interpreted by an
observer on the ground?
(5) In non-relativistic mechanics, the same change in
momentum results when a body is speeded up from 0
to 0.2 c and from 0.6 to 0.8 c. What does rela-
tivity say? Calculate the ratio of the momentum
change from 0.6 to 0.8 c to that from 0 to 0.2 c.
(6) In the example of the twin paradox given on pages
146-148 of the text, suppose the astronaut is sent
10 radio messages from earth during his voyage, the
first sent three years after he leaves, then one
every five years thereafter. Divide the voyage up
into three parts -- outward trip, turn-around, and
return trip. The turn-around takes one day. When
does the astronaut actually receive the messages?
When does he believe they were sent? Does his
brother on earth disagree on these two points?
The exam itself, given in class, is as follows.
Question numbers refer to those given above.
26
27
---
---
---
---
---
---
---
---
(1)
(a) Is itever possible to get a minimum halfway
between the speakers?
Yes
No
(b) What is heard at the points directly in front
of the speakers when the wavelength is I m?
Maximum
Minimum
Somewhere between
(c) Are there more or less maxima with I m waves
than with 2 mwaves?
More
Same number
___Less
(2)
Check the appropriate boxes below:
UnchangedModified Abandoned
I
Definition of mass
Superposition principle~ _______~ ________-+________~
Newton's first law
Newton's second law
Newton's third law
(3)
(a) What does an observer on the train feel about
the clock settings?
They are synchronized
Rear clock is ahead
---- Front clock is ahead
(b) Does an observer on the ground agree with the
answer to (a) above?
Yes
'\
No
(c) What happens to the other relativistic effects,
such as clock slowdown and shrinkage of the
train, in this situation?
They are stillpresent, as in relativity.
They are present, but become real effects
--- observable to the man on the train.
They are not present.
28
(4) (a)
(b)
Check any statement or statements below that do
not reflect the belief of an observer witness-
ing the experiment from the ground (more than
one answer is possible).
The clock on the train runs slow.
---
The train is shorter than its "rest"
---
length.
The light takes longer to get to the
---
mirror than to return.
The light travels farther than itwould
---
ifthe train were not moving.
___The observer on the train gets the wrong
value for c.
This gedanken experiment was not used to derive
the clock slowdown because itinvolves one
effect not involved in measuring the speed of
light across the train. Which effect is that?
Asynchronism of two clocks on the train.
----
____Shrinkage of the train.
Mass increase of the train.
---
Relativistic velocity limit.
(5) (a) The momentum change in going from 0.6 to 0.8
exceeds that from 0 to 0.2 c by a factor of
c
(b) The non-relativistic answer to (a) would be
(c)
(d)
The difference between your answers to (a) and
(b) is solely due to:
The failure to momentum conservation.
---
The relativistic mass increase.
The relativistic velocity addition law.
---
In order to answer this problem two of the fol-
lowing formulas were needed. Check them.
E =me
----
P =mv
----
m =ymo
--- tJ.t Lv/c2
(6) (a) Give the number of messages received by the
astronaut during each phase of the voyage:
29
---
---
---
---
---
---
Outward ___
Turn-around
Return ___
(b) Does his brother on earth agree with these
figures?
Yes
No
(c) How does the astronaut feel about how many mes-
sages were sent during each phase?
Outward
Turn-around
Return
(d) Does his brother agree with these figures?
Yes
No
ABSTRACTS OF TERM PAPERS
These are summaries of some of the more successful
term papers written for the course at Wisconsin.
Relativity and Cubism. Compares two comtemporaneous
efforts, in science and art, to deal with the concepts of
space and time. The key point is that both differ from
preceding efforts by concentrating on the observer as ac-
tive rather than passive. Concludes both were influenced
by philosophical movements of the time.
Da Vinci and Cyrano de Bergerac on Flight. Discusses
the obsession with flying machines of these two late-
Renaissance figures. The main point is to show how the
artistic, religious, philosophical, scientific, and tech-
nical ideas of these men were unified in a "rational
humanistic" view that was favorable both to the emergence
of the natural sciences and rapid development of new art
forms.
Color. The author (an interior designer) outlines the
development of color theories by physicists and artists.
Shows motivations of the two are different, but they are
unified by the problem of obtaining a reproducible de-
scription of the subjective experience of color perception.
30
Similarity of conclusions taken as showing the subject is
dominated by problems of perception psychology foreign to
both fields.
Space and Time in Philosophy and Physics. Traces the
development of these concepts in physics (Newton to Ein-
stein) and philosophy (Locke to Kant). Shows the mutual
interaction of the two, particularly how Kant's ideas
helped create a favorable intellectual climate for the
emergence of relativity.
Galileo and the Church. Makes the case that.Galileo
attempted to defeat his academic rivals by gaining Church
acceptance of Copernican cosmology, rather than the con-
ventional view that he merely sought Church neutrality.
Shows how his effort was doomed to fail for reasons of
politics having to do with the debacle of the Thirty
Years' War, despite the fact that the intellectual climate
even among orthodox theologians was favorable to such a
change.
The Uncertainty Principle and Sunday Morning. Shows
that the point of view expressed in the celebrated poem
by Wallace Stevens bears philosophical similarity to the
uncertainty principle. Relates this to the author's own
personal beliefs, in particular, to the manner in which
she came to accept her own mortality as a blessing
rather than a curse.
The Physicists and Hiroshima. Argues that the profes-
sional training of physicists hampers them in political
action, and thus accounts for the failure of the Franck-
Szilard attempt to prevent the use of the atomic bomb
against a civilian target.
Einstein and Bohr. Though protagonists in a great de-
bate and dissimilar in outward style, these two physicists.
shared humanist beliefs and a willingness to letpersonal
philosophical views influence their scientific work.
Concludes that this type of person is most likely to take
great strides in the development of new theories.
Physics and Sociology. Compares scientific method as
outlined in a sociology methods course and in this
course. Concludes that the former is too rigidly
31
empirical and dogmatic to yield much progress, and urges
HOM E W 0 R K ASS I G N MEN T S
sociologists to use more intuitive methods.
Most students should be able to come up with some sort
of answer to the questions in the appendix, but the nu-
merical exercises may prove quite challenging. It is un-
wise to assign these unless the students have some oppor-
tunity to get individual help.
Remember that students in a course like this have no
professional need for skill at solving physics problems,
so the latter should be kept to the minimum required for
purposes of illuminating the principles involved.
As a general rule, it is a good idea to work out in
class at least one problem for everyone assigned. For
the first few assignments, it helps to "spoon-feed" the
students by working problems identical to those assigned,
except for the actual numbers, to build up their confi-
dence.
At Wisconsin we have found that one question and two
problems per week are more than adequate for the classical
portions of the course. The problems are not as useful in
the relativity and quantum theory units, so the number
assigned should be even less in these sections of the
course. The questions are nonetheless still of consid-
erable benefit to the student
."
32
33
A N S WE R S TOEX E R CISE S
Chapter 1
1. 34 mi/h
2. (a) 10 mls (b) 2:41
3. (a) 90s (b) 33.3 mls
4. 6s
5. 3 mls
2
6. 14 m/s
7. Ss
S. OS m/s2 or .OOS g
Chapter 2
2. (a) 60 m (b) 20 m
3. (a) 50 m/s (b) 20 m/s (c) 20 m
4. 6 mls
5. 2 mis, to the right
6. (a) 12 m/s in same direction (b) no
7. (a) yes
Chapter 3
1. 15 N ,
3. 5 m/s
2
4. 2 mls
2
Chapter 4
-3 2 -4
2. (a) 6 x 10 m/s (b) 6 x 10 g (c) 2.7 x 10
7
Chapter 5
1. 500 J
2. (a) 50 J (b) 5 mls
3. 100 J kinetic energy both before and after
4. (a) 1250 N (b) 1.25 m/s2
5. 5 m
6. .24
0
C
7. 60,000 Wor SO hp
34
ChaI2ter 7
1. 1000 m/s
2. 3 m
3.
6m, 3m, 2m
4. (b) 3
Chapters 9, 10
1-
.6 m -12
2. 5 x 10 m 7
3.
.2 c, or 6 x 10 mls
4.
O.S times as fast
5.
3 x 10-
6
s
ChaI2ter 11
-S
5 x 10 kg; not measurable
1.
2. .S6 c 16
3. 9 x 10 J
4. 100,000 kg
Chapter 12
1. (a) after 25 yr
2. 10-
5
s, 5 x 10-
10
m
3. 2.2 x 10-
15
Chapter 13
1-
35 cl to 1 H
2. 293 K
3. 273
0
C
4.
Hydrogen 4 times as fast
5.
2 x 10-
7
em
Chapter 14
4000 1.
(b) 6.4 x 10-
4
2. (a) 1.6 x 10-
7
ChaI2ter 15
1. 5/27
(b) 6.4 x 10-
19
J
2.
(a) 6.4 x 10-
34
J-s
35
Chapter 16
1. 2:1
2. 2 x 10-
36
em
4. (a) 5.4 x 10-
23
kg-mis, 1.6 x 10-
15
j, 1.2 x 10-
1
1 rn
(b) photon wavelength 10 times greater
Chapter 17
1. 3 x 10-
20
kg-mis
Chapter 19
2. 36 mesons, 56 baryons
36
\..,