Entropic Time

Posted on November 15, 2020 by dkagan

This is one of the best videos on entropy ever:

Posted in Entropy, Intro Physics, Thermodynamics | Leave a comment

Examples of Damped Oscillators

Posted on October 28, 2020 by dkagan

I found some nice videos that describe real-world applications of damped oscillators. First, a video involving a pendulum with adjustable damping, demonstrating underdamped, overdamped, and critically damped behaviors:

 

Second a really neat video showing how combining two damped oscillators and tuning the damping allows you to stop a structure from swaying too much. If engineers didn’t do this sort of thing, then skyscrapers would be much less pleasant to hang around in.

 

Posted in General Interest, Oscillation | Leave a comment

Hello Class of Fall 2020!

Posted on August 29, 2020 by dkagan

Greetings! Welcome to PHY 115, a.k.a. Classical Physics III, a.k.a. Mostly Many-Bodied Physics.

Right now, I am working on finalizing various aspects of the course in its regeneration as an online course. You can find important information about the key elements of the course in the syllabus linked to here.

Additional information can be found on the course Welcome page, linked to at the top of the site.

Please keep a look out for my emails. They will be a critical means for us to communicate and coordinate this semester.

Posted in Intro Physics, Logistics | Leave a comment