CLSTHAP003 - Everyday Physics: The Science of Everything Around You
With a Rice University physicist as your guide, discover the ubiquitous, unseen role of everyday physics. The world and the materials that compose it are full of profound phenomena often overlooked by the uninitiated, from quasiparticles to the quantum world. Did you know that there are hundreds of states of matter? Have you ever wondered why objects can’t pass through each other and why stars don’t collapse? What do sports fans doing the wave or a traffic slowdown on the 610 Loop have to do with electrical conduction in metal? Why are raindrops wet and how do snowflakes achieve their delicate sixfold symmetry? Learn how physics affects everything around you, defining the very laws of nature. Spanning physics, chemistry, materials science, electrical engineering and even a bit of biology, this course brings the foundations of everyday physics to life and shares some of the most intriguing research emerging today.
Course Details
Douglas Natelson, Ph.D., is a professor in the Rice University Department of Physics and Astronomy, professor in electrical and computer engineering, professor in materials science and nanoengineering and a fellow at the Smalley-Curl Institute. Dr. Natelson was a recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, a Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship and a David and Lucille Packard Fellowship, and was recognized in 2008 by Discover magazine as one of their “40 under 40.” He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and he is an author of a textbook, “Nanostructures and Nanotechnology.” Dr. Natelson writes a blog called Nanoscale Views exploring the everyday relevance of nanoscale physics on such diverse topics as diamond batteries, COVID-19 and aerosolized droplets, the science of “Star Wars,” overcoming pizza slice droop, and how long-accepted ideas are overturned in science.
Online--Synchronous
This course will be delivered in a synchronous format online. Registered participants will receive login instructions to the course page which will provide access to the virtual classroom link and other resources. All online classes are held at Central Standard Time.
- States of Matter: Solid/liquid/gas are just the beginning. There are many states of matter, classified deep down by symmetry and topology. The way these phases appear is in a sense a remarkable exercise in democracy.
- Emergence: “More is different.” Emergence is the appearance of new and unexpected properties when large numbers of simple constituents come together. This is a key theme of modern physics.
- Quasiparticles: Often the collective response of many constituents can act remarkably like a single object, and sometimes with surprising properties.
- Symmetry and Topology: How the constituents of matter are arranged in space has profound consequences, including bedrock concepts like conservation laws.
- The Pauli Principle: The most important physical law you’ve likely never heard of is responsible for the Periodic Table, why atoms can’t pass through each other even though they are mostly empty space, and the properties of bulk materials.
- The Quantum World: Quantum mechanics rules at tiny scales, but the world around us looks classical, with well-defined positions and momenta, and no simultaneously alive and dead cats. How does this happen, and why are people working so hard to engineer large systems that show quantum properties?
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University