Physics 2710: Fall 2008 Exam I Preparation - Prof. David Peak, Exams of Physics

Download Physics 2710: Fall 2008 Exam I Preparation - Prof. David Peak and more Exams Physics in PDF only on Docsity! Phys 2710, fall 08, know for I 1 Things to know for Exam I: • Approximate (or typical) lengths (in nm): (a) wavelengths of visible light; (b) radii of atoms; (c) radii of nuclei; • Approximate (or typical) energies (in eV): (a) rest energy of an electron; (b) rest energy of a nucleon; (c) energies of visible light photons; (d) energies of electronic states in atoms; (d) energies of nucleonic states in nuclei; (e) thermal energy at room temperature; • Fundamental constants (in eV and nm, as appropriate): c, hc, ! hc • From the notes “The Big Picture”: o what two properties of atoms are incompatible with a model in which a classical electron orbits a nucleus like a planet orbits the sun? o describe the Davisson-Germer experiment and state why it was so important o what is the de Broglie wavelength? o define complementarity o how do we know that atoms and molecules have the property of complementarity? o state the difference between low and high intensity double slit experiments with light and interpret the results o what is the relation between energy and momentum for photons and for slowly moving massive particles? o how do energy and momentum depend on wavelength for photons? o how do kinetic energy and momentum depend on de Broglie wavelength for slowly moving massive particles? o what does the “delayed choice” experiment show? • From the notes “Electromagnetism and photons”: o describe, qualitatively, how EM radiation comes about o state why the value of c is what it is o define harmonic and plane waves o state in what direction a wave described by a given functional form is moving o define wavelength and frequency and state how they are related for EM waves o define energy density for EM radiation o what is the Maxwell wave equation for EMism? o how do the Maxwell wave equation and its solutions account for the complementarity of the photon? o what is the photon wavefunction and what information does it contain? o what are the energy squared and momentum squared operators? • From Ch. 3: o what are the two forms of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle? • From Ch. 5: o what is the Schrödinger wave equation? how does it differ from the Maxwell wave equation?