In this video lesson, the concept of momentum applied to hard-body collisions is explained using a number of simple demonstrations, all of which can be repeated in the classroom. Understanding Newton's Laws is fundamental to all of physics, and this lesson introduces the vital concepts of momentum and energy, and their conservation. Only some preliminary ideas of algebra are used here, and all the concepts presented can be found in any high-school level physics book. In terms of materials required, getting hold of large steel balls may not be easy, but large ball bearings can be procured easily. On the basis of what students have learned in the video, teachers can easily generate a large number of questions that relate to one's daily experiences, or which pose new challenges: for example, in a collision between a heavy and light vehicle, why do those inside the lighter one suffer less injury?

This course focuses on the latest scientific developments and discoveries in the field of nanomechanics, the study of forces and motion on extremely tiny (10-9 m) areas of synthetic and biological materials and structures. At this level, mechanical properties are intimately related to chemistry, physics, and quantum mechanics. Most lectures will consist of a theoretical component that will then be compared to recent experimental data (case studies) in the literature. The course begins with a series of introductory lectures that describes the normal and lateral forces acting at the atomic scale. The following discussions include experimental techniques in high resolution force spectroscopy, atomistic aspects of adhesion, nanoindentation, molecular details of fracture, chemical force microscopy, elasticity of single macromolecular chains, intermolecular interactions in polymers, dynamic force spectroscopy, biomolecular bond strength measurements, and molecular motors.

Parallel treatments of photons, electrons, phonons, and molecules as energy carriers, aiming at fundamental understanding and descriptive tools for energy and heat transport processes from nanoscale continuously to macroscale. Topics include the energy levels, the statistical behavior and internal energy, energy transport in the forms of waves and particles, scattering and heat generation processes, Boltzmann equation and derivation of classical laws, deviation from classical laws at nanoscale and their appropriate descriptions, with applications in nano- and microtechnology.

Students learn about frequency and period, particularly natural frequency using springs. They learn that the natural frequency of a system depends on two things: the stiffness and mass of the system. Students see how the natural frequency of a structure plays a big role in the building surviving an earthquake or high winds.

Produce light by bombarding atoms with electrons. See how the characteristic spectra of different elements are produced, and configure your own element's energy states to produce light of different colors.

This course is intended to introduce the student to the concepts and methods of transport theory needed in neutron science applications. This course is a foundational study of the effects of multiple interactions on neutron distributions and their applications to problems across the Nuclear Engineering department. Stochastic and deterministic simulation techniques will be introduced to the students.

This course introduces fundamental properties of the neutron. It covers reactions induced by neutrons, nuclear fission, slowing down of neutrons in infinite media, diffusion theory, the few-group approximation, point kinetics, and fission-product poisoning. It emphasizes the nuclear physics bases of reactor design and its relationship to reactor engineering problems.

Introduction to the theory and phenomenology of nonlinear dynamics and chaos in dissipative systems. Forced and parametric oscillators. Phase space. Periodic, quasiperiodic, and aperiodic flows. Sensitivity to initial conditions and strange attractors. Lorenz attractor. Period doubling, intermittency, and quasiperiodicity. Scaling and universality. Analysis of experimental data: Fourier transforms, Poincar, sections, fractal dimension, and Lyapunov exponents. Applications drawn from fluid dynamics, physics, geophysics, and chemistry.

Play with a 1D or 2D system of coupled mass-spring oscillators. Vary the number of masses, set the initial conditions, and watch the system evolve. See the spectrum of normal modes for arbitrary motion. See longitudinal or transverse modes in the 1D system.

Students expand upon their understanding of simple machines with an introduction to compound machines. A compound machine a combination of two or more simple machines can affect work more than its individual components. Engineers who design compound machines aim to benefit society by lessening the amount of work that people exert for even common household tasks. This lesson encourages students to critically think about machine inventions and their role in our lives.

This capstone course is a group design project involving integration of nuclear physics, particle transport, control, heat transfer, safety, instrumentation, materials, environmental impact, and economic optimization. It provides opportunities to synthesize knowledge acquired in nuclear and non-nuclear subjects and apply this knowledge to practical problems of current interest in nuclear applications design. Each year, the class takes on a different design project; this year, the project is a power plant design that ties together the creation of emission-free electricity with carbon sequestration and fossil fuel displacement. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.This course is an elective subject in MIT's undergraduate Energy Studies Minor. This Institute-wide program complements the deep expertise obtained in any major with a broad understanding of the interlinked realms of science, technology, and social sciences as they relate to energy and associated environmental challenges.

In this extension to the Ohm's Law I activity, students observe just how much time it takes to use up the "juice" in a battery, and if it is better to use batteries in series or parallel. This extension is suitable as a teacher demonstration and may be started before students begin work on the Ohm's Law I activity.

Students work to increase the intensity of a light bulb by testing batteries in series and parallel circuits. They learn about Ohm's law, power, parallel and series circuits, and ways to measure voltage and current.

Explore an active area of research in optical physics: producing designer pulse shapes to achieve specific purposes, such as breaking apart a molecule. Carefully create the perfect shaped pulse to break apart a molecule by individually manipulating the colors of light that make up a pulse.

Did you ever imagine that you can use light to move a microscopic plastic bead? Explore the forces on the bead or slow time to see the interaction with the laser's electric field. Use the optical tweezers to manipulate a single strand of DNA and explore the physics of tiny molecular motors. Can you get the DNA completely straight or stop the molecular motor?

This film features a project from 2007 in which first and second graders at the Santa Fe School for the Arts and Sciences were given the opportunity to design experiments to answer their own questions about the physical world. Eight years later, two students and their teacher are asked to reflect on this project and speak about the value of learners behaving as scientists, a skill encouraged by the Next Generation Science Standards. This film celebrates the results of their physics investigations and inspires science teachers to create more authentic learning experiences for students of any age.

In this activity about light and reflection, learners use a special device called a Mirage Maker䋢 to create an illusion. What they perceive as an object is really an image in space, created by two concave mirrors. Learners will be surprised when they try to grab the object on the mirror and there's nothing there! Activity includes a light-ray diagram to help explain how the image is created.

This simulation explores the relationship between particle kinetic energies during particle collisions. It is used in Lesson 13 of Unit 6.2 in the OpenSciEd curriculum.

Survey of current research in High Energy Physics. Topics include electron-positron and proton-antiproton collisions; electroweak phenomena, heavy flavor physics, and high-precision tests of the Standard Model. Other topics include searches for new phenomena (compositeness, supersymmetry, and GUTs), discussion of our new experimental results (e.g. the Top Quark), and expectations from future accelerators (B factory, LHC). 8.811, Particle Physics II, describes essential research in High Energy Physics. We derive the Standard Model (SM) first using a bottom up method based on Unitarity, in addition to the usual top down method using SU3xSU2xU1. We describe and analyze several classical experiments, which established the SM, as examples on how to design experiments. Further topics include heavy flavor physics, high-precision tests of the Standard Model, neutrino oscillations, searches for new phenomena (compositeness, supersymmetry, technical color, and GUTs), and discussion of expectations from future accelerators (B factory, LHC, large electron-positron linear colliders, etc). The term paper requires the students to have constant discussions with the instructor throughout the semester on theories, physics, measurables, signatures, detectors, resolution, background identification and elimination, signal to noise and statistical analysis.

Basics of general relativity, standard big bang cosmology, thermodynamics of the early universe, cosmic background radiation, primordial nucleosynthesis, basics of the standard model of particle physics, electroweak and QCD phase transition, basics of group theory, grand unified theories, baryon asymmetry, monopoles, cosmic strings, domain walls, axions, inflationary universe, and structure formation.