Lecture

Introduction to General Physics

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In course

PHYS-207(a): General physics : quanta

Ce cours est une introduction à la mécanique quantique. En partant de son développement historique, le cours traite les notions de complémentarité quantique et le principe d'incertitude, le processus de mesure, l'équation de Schrödinger, ainsi que des élém ...

Description

This lecture introduces the fundamental laws of physics, focusing on mechanics, electromagnetism, and the crisis of classical physics. It covers topics such as Newton's laws, electromagnetic waves, the black body spectrum, and the stability of matter, leading up to the laws of Stefan-Boltzmann and Wien. The instructor provides insights into the historical development of atomic models and the experimental observations that challenged classical physics theories.

Instructor

Vincenzo Savona

Vincenzo Savona studied physics in Pisa at the Scuola Normale Superiore and the University of Pisa, prior to completing his PhD at the EPFL's Institute of Theoretical Physics. Subsequently he did post-doctoral work, first at the EPFL and then in the physics department of the Humboldt University of Berlin. In 2002, he returned to the EPFL to create his own research group, receiving a "professeur boursier" fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation. In 2006, he was appointed tenure-track assistant professor at the EPFL and joined the NCCR for Quantum Photonics. In 2010 he was appointed associate professor. Currently he directs the Laboratory of Theoretical Physics of Nanosystems.

Official source

Related concepts (32)

Planck's law

In physics, Planck's law (also Planck radiation law) describes the spectral density of electromagnetic radiation emitted by a black body in thermal equilibrium at a given temperature T, when there is no net flow of matter or energy between the body and its environment. At the end of the 19th century, physicists were unable to explain why the observed spectrum of black-body radiation, which by then had been accurately measured, diverged significantly at higher frequencies from that predicted by existing theories.

Wien's displacement law

Wien's displacement law states that the black-body radiation curve for different temperatures will peak at different wavelengths that are inversely proportional to the temperature. The shift of that peak is a direct consequence of the Planck radiation law, which describes the spectral brightness or intensity of black-body radiation as a function of wavelength at any given temperature. However, it had been discovered by Wilhelm Wien several years before Max Planck developed that more general equation, and describes the entire shift of the spectrum of black-body radiation toward shorter wavelengths as temperature increases.

Black-body radiation

Black-body radiation is the thermal electromagnetic radiation within, or surrounding, a body in thermodynamic equilibrium with its environment, emitted by a black body (an idealized opaque, non-reflective body). It has a specific, continuous spectrum of wavelengths, inversely related to intensity, that depend only on the body's temperature, which is assumed, for the sake of calculations and theory, to be uniform and constant.

Stefan–Boltzmann law

The Stefan–Boltzmann law, also known as Stefan's law, describes the intensity of the thermal radiation emitted by matter in terms of that matter's temperature. It is named for Josef Stefan, who empirically derived the relationship, and Ludwig Boltzmann who derived the law theoretically. For an ideal absorber/emitter or black body, the Stefan–Boltzmann law states that the total energy radiated per unit surface area per unit time (also known as the radiant exitance) is directly proportional to the fourth power of the black body's temperature, T: The constant of proportionality, , is called the Stefan–Boltzmann constant.

Classical mechanics

Classical mechanics is a physical theory describing the motion of macroscopic objects, from projectiles to parts of machinery and astronomical objects, such as spacecraft, planets, stars, and galaxies. For objects governed by classical mechanics, if the present state is known, it is possible to predict how it will move in the future (determinism), and how it has moved in the past (reversibility). The "classical" in "classical mechanics" does not refer classical antiquity, as it might in, say, classical architecture.

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