Physics Seminar: Intriguing Problems and How to Solve Them

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Physics Seminar: Intriguing Problems and How to Solve Them

SAT Score Range

•

4 sessions

•

+16

This series ended on December 11, 2021. All 1:1 and group chats related to this series are disabled 7 days after the last session.

About

In every session, I will present an intriguing physics problem, then introduce the concepts and techniques needed to solve it. We'll start with the famous brachistochrone problem and a discussion of the calculus of variations. Our next topic will be the peculiar behavior of  a wobbling frisbee as described by Richard Feynman in his autobiography "Surely You're Joking." This will lead naturally to a discussion of the inertia tensor and Euler's equations. The series will conclude with an introduction to the method of images in electrostatics.

Students should have a firm understanding of introductory classical mechanics (i.e., Newton's Laws, energy and momentum conservation, rotations in 2D) and single-variable calculus.

Tutored by

Sam S 🇺🇸

Certified in 2 topics

View Profile

I'm an undergraduate physics and mathematics student. In high school, I earned a bronze medal on the USAPhO and 5's on the Calculus BC, Physics 1, Physics C Mechanics, and Physics C E/M AP exams. I'm now excelling in advanced physics and math classes like Quantum Mechanics and Differential Geometry, and doing research on collective behavior in biological systems. I look forward to seeing you in one of my sessions!

Schedule

✋ ATTENDANCE POLICY

You can attend whichever sessions you like, though I of course encourage you to come to them all!

SESSION 1

20

Nov

SESSION 1

Physics

Sat 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM UTCNov 20, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM UTC

In this session, we'll discuss the calculus of variations and its application to the brachistochrone problem. This problem was originally posed by Johann Bernoulli in 1696 as a challenge to the best mathematicians of the day.

SESSION 2

27

Nov

SESSION 2

Physics

Sat 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM UTCNov 27, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM UTC

In this session, we'll examine the motion of a wobbling, spinning frisbee with Euler's equations.

SESSION 3

4

Dec

SESSION 3

Physics

Sat 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM UTCDec 4, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM UTC

Having examined two problems from classical mechanics, we will now look at one from electrostatics. In particular, we will find the electrostatic potential outside of a grounded sphere when a point charge is placed outside it. If you don't know anything about electrostatics, don't worry-- I'll cover the necessary concepts along the way.

SESSION 4

11

Dec

SESSION 4

Physics

Sat 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM UTCDec 11, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM UTC

TBD

Public Discussion

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Nov 20 - Dec 11

4 weeks

90 mins

/ session

SCHEDULE

Saturdays

3:00PM