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Enrichment • Series

Physics Seminar: Intriguing Problems and How to Solve Them

Sam S

Series Details

Sessions

Public Discussion

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.

Series Details

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.

Tutor Qualifications

I'm a high school junior from Arkansas. I earned 5's on the Calculus BC, Physics 1, Physics C Mechanics, and Physics C E/M AP exams. This year, I'm taking math and physics courses at my local university as a concurrent student. In my free time, I enjoy writing handouts on topics ranging from vector calculus to Lagrangian mechanics.

✋ ATTENDANCE POLICY

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

Dates

November 20 - December 11

Learners

19 / 20

Total Sessions

About the Tutor

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!

View Sam S's Profile

Upcoming Sessions

Past Sessions

Nov

Session 1

Physics

Sat Nov 20, 2021, 3:00 PM

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.

Nov

Session 2

Physics

Sat Nov 27, 2021, 3:00 PM

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

Dec

Session 3

Physics

Sat Dec 4, 2021, 3:00 PM

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.

Dec

Session 4

Physics

Sat Dec 11, 2021, 3:00 PM

TBD

Public Discussion

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