An account of Max Planck's construction of his theory of blackbody radiation, summarizing the... more An account of Max Planck's construction of his theory of blackbody radiation, summarizing the established physics on which he drew. In the last year of the nineteenth century, Max Planck constructed a theory of blackbody radiation—the radiation emitted and absorbed by nonreflective bodies in thermal equilibrium with one another—and his work ushered in the quantum revolution in physics. In this book, three physicists trace Planck's discovery. They follow the trail of Planck's thinking by constructing a textbook of sorts that summarizes the established physics on which he drew. By offering this account, the authors explore not only how Planck deployed his considerable knowledge of the physics of his era but also how Einstein and others used and interpreted Planck's work. Planck did not set out to lay the foundation for the quantum revolution but to study a universal phenomenon for which empirical evidence had been accumulating since the late 1850s. The authors explain the nineteenth-century concepts that informed Planck's discovery, including electromagnetism, thermodynamics, and statistical mechanics. In addition, the book offers the first translations of important papers by Ludwig Boltzmann and Wilhelm Wien on which Planck's work depended.
APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting Abstracts, Nov 1, 1999
Dusty plasmas provide new challenges for traditional computational plasma physics methods. Dust g... more Dusty plasmas provide new challenges for traditional computational plasma physics methods. Dust grains are trapped in the sheath region of rf discharges and tend to become aligned in the direction of ion flow toward the electrode, which can lead to lattice-like structures of grains that different from those predicted by the theory of strongly coupled plasmas. The alignment process has been studied with molecular dynamics simulations that treat the dust grains as discrete charged particles interacting via screened potentials. An asymmetric addition to the interaction is also included, either as a dipole or as a wake potential. The addition of either correction is sufficient to modify the structure of the crystal, making it more consistent with experiments, and phase transitions to different configurations occur as the contribution is increased. The detailed properties and scaling with parameters of the wake potential surrounding a single grain have been studied with particle-in-cell simulations that treat both dust grains and the flowing plasma ions as discrete particles that can be collisionally coupled to the background neutral gas.
... 32, NO. 6, DECEMBER 2004 2169 Magnetically Driven Rayleigh–Taylor Instability With Accelerati... more ... 32, NO. 6, DECEMBER 2004 2169 Magnetically Driven Rayleigh–Taylor Instability With Acceleration Gradient Walter L. Atchison and Don S. Lemons ... 19, pp. 497–506, 2001. [7] D. Ryutov, MS Derzon, and MK Matzen, “The physics of fast Z-pinches,” Rev. Mod. Phys, vol. 72, pp. ...
I derive the P–V relation of an initially cold gas during a one-dimensional nonadiabatic compress... more I derive the P–V relation of an initially cold gas during a one-dimensional nonadiabatic compression. Here P is the gas pressure on a moving piston and V is the gas volume.
Publisher Summary This chapter explores the interaction between a stationary dust grain in a flow... more Publisher Summary This chapter explores the interaction between a stationary dust grain in a flowing, collisional plasma. The chapter also compares the derived expression for the wake potential with results from particle-in-cell simulations that treat the flowing plasma ions as discrete particles which are collisionally coupled to the background neutral gas. The flow of plasma around dust grains in many experiments is typically on the order of the ion sound velocity. This flow gives rise to a quasi-periodic wavetrain, or wakefield, downstream of the grain. The wake is thought to contribute to the vertical alignment and grain spacing in plasma crystals. The theory and simulations thus derived, indicated that the principal features of the trailing wake are retained with the inclusion of ion-neutral collisions. The wake potential structure indicates that the effect of a flowing plasma is to create an ion focus region some distance downstream of the grain The simulations here show that the distance is not modified by collisional effects, but the overall interaction length is limited to a few wavelengths due to spatial damping. The calculations also indicate that the wake effect is a more physically justifiable correction to the grain interaction potential than a dipole..
Isaac Newton envisioned a static, infinite, and initially uniform, zero field universe that was g... more Isaac Newton envisioned a static, infinite, and initially uniform, zero field universe that was gravitationally unstable to local condensations of matter. By postulating the existence of such a universe and using it as a boundary condition on Newtonian gravity, a new field equation for gravity is derived, which differs from the classical one by a time-dependent cosmological term proportional to the average mass density of the universe. The new field equation not only makes Jeans’ analysis of the gravitational instability of a Newtonian universe consistent, but also gives rise to a family of Newtonian evolutionary cosmologies parametrized by a time-invariant expansion velocity. This Newtonian cosmology contrasts with both 19th-century ones and with post general relativity Newtonian cosmology.
Experience teaches us that a large balloon takes longer to deflate than a small one of the same k... more Experience teaches us that a large balloon takes longer to deflate than a small one of the same kind. But what is the quantitative relation between the deflation time τ and the radius R of a balloon? A simple analysis, depending only upon elementary physics, shows that τ∼R7/2—a prediction that is surprisingly easy to illustrate with a party balloon, a tape measure, and a smart-phone app.
Drawing Physics is a collection of 51 essays each one organized around a simple, informative, lin... more Drawing Physics is a collection of 51 essays each one organized around a simple, informative, line drawing that conveys a key idea in the history of physics. The essays, each approximately 1000 words long, are chronologically ordered from Thales, who around 600 BCE explained and used the principles of triangulation, to Peter Higgs, who received the Nobel Prize in 2012 for his prediction of the Higgs boson. The essays expand on the science conveyed in each drawing and place that science in a broader cultural context. The essays are grouped into five sections: Antiquity, Middle Ages, Early Modern Period, Nineteenth Century, and Twentieth Century and Beyond. Each essay stands alone and requires no background in physics or mathematics.
We develop and numerically illustrate an exact solution of the multivariate, stochastic, differen... more We develop and numerically illustrate an exact solution of the multivariate, stochastic, differential equations that govern the velocity and position of a charged particle in a plane normal to a uniform, stationary, magnetic field. The equations self-consistently incorporate the Lorentz force into an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck collision model. Properties of the solution in the infinite dissipation limit are explored and the spectral energy density function is found
An account of Max Planck's construction of his theory of blackbody radiation, summarizing the... more An account of Max Planck's construction of his theory of blackbody radiation, summarizing the established physics on which he drew. In the last year of the nineteenth century, Max Planck constructed a theory of blackbody radiation—the radiation emitted and absorbed by nonreflective bodies in thermal equilibrium with one another—and his work ushered in the quantum revolution in physics. In this book, three physicists trace Planck's discovery. They follow the trail of Planck's thinking by constructing a textbook of sorts that summarizes the established physics on which he drew. By offering this account, the authors explore not only how Planck deployed his considerable knowledge of the physics of his era but also how Einstein and others used and interpreted Planck's work. Planck did not set out to lay the foundation for the quantum revolution but to study a universal phenomenon for which empirical evidence had been accumulating since the late 1850s. The authors explain the nineteenth-century concepts that informed Planck's discovery, including electromagnetism, thermodynamics, and statistical mechanics. In addition, the book offers the first translations of important papers by Ludwig Boltzmann and Wilhelm Wien on which Planck's work depended.
APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting Abstracts, Nov 1, 1999
Dusty plasmas provide new challenges for traditional computational plasma physics methods. Dust g... more Dusty plasmas provide new challenges for traditional computational plasma physics methods. Dust grains are trapped in the sheath region of rf discharges and tend to become aligned in the direction of ion flow toward the electrode, which can lead to lattice-like structures of grains that different from those predicted by the theory of strongly coupled plasmas. The alignment process has been studied with molecular dynamics simulations that treat the dust grains as discrete charged particles interacting via screened potentials. An asymmetric addition to the interaction is also included, either as a dipole or as a wake potential. The addition of either correction is sufficient to modify the structure of the crystal, making it more consistent with experiments, and phase transitions to different configurations occur as the contribution is increased. The detailed properties and scaling with parameters of the wake potential surrounding a single grain have been studied with particle-in-cell simulations that treat both dust grains and the flowing plasma ions as discrete particles that can be collisionally coupled to the background neutral gas.
... 32, NO. 6, DECEMBER 2004 2169 Magnetically Driven Rayleigh–Taylor Instability With Accelerati... more ... 32, NO. 6, DECEMBER 2004 2169 Magnetically Driven Rayleigh–Taylor Instability With Acceleration Gradient Walter L. Atchison and Don S. Lemons ... 19, pp. 497–506, 2001. [7] D. Ryutov, MS Derzon, and MK Matzen, “The physics of fast Z-pinches,” Rev. Mod. Phys, vol. 72, pp. ...
I derive the P–V relation of an initially cold gas during a one-dimensional nonadiabatic compress... more I derive the P–V relation of an initially cold gas during a one-dimensional nonadiabatic compression. Here P is the gas pressure on a moving piston and V is the gas volume.
Publisher Summary This chapter explores the interaction between a stationary dust grain in a flow... more Publisher Summary This chapter explores the interaction between a stationary dust grain in a flowing, collisional plasma. The chapter also compares the derived expression for the wake potential with results from particle-in-cell simulations that treat the flowing plasma ions as discrete particles which are collisionally coupled to the background neutral gas. The flow of plasma around dust grains in many experiments is typically on the order of the ion sound velocity. This flow gives rise to a quasi-periodic wavetrain, or wakefield, downstream of the grain. The wake is thought to contribute to the vertical alignment and grain spacing in plasma crystals. The theory and simulations thus derived, indicated that the principal features of the trailing wake are retained with the inclusion of ion-neutral collisions. The wake potential structure indicates that the effect of a flowing plasma is to create an ion focus region some distance downstream of the grain The simulations here show that the distance is not modified by collisional effects, but the overall interaction length is limited to a few wavelengths due to spatial damping. The calculations also indicate that the wake effect is a more physically justifiable correction to the grain interaction potential than a dipole..
Isaac Newton envisioned a static, infinite, and initially uniform, zero field universe that was g... more Isaac Newton envisioned a static, infinite, and initially uniform, zero field universe that was gravitationally unstable to local condensations of matter. By postulating the existence of such a universe and using it as a boundary condition on Newtonian gravity, a new field equation for gravity is derived, which differs from the classical one by a time-dependent cosmological term proportional to the average mass density of the universe. The new field equation not only makes Jeans’ analysis of the gravitational instability of a Newtonian universe consistent, but also gives rise to a family of Newtonian evolutionary cosmologies parametrized by a time-invariant expansion velocity. This Newtonian cosmology contrasts with both 19th-century ones and with post general relativity Newtonian cosmology.
Experience teaches us that a large balloon takes longer to deflate than a small one of the same k... more Experience teaches us that a large balloon takes longer to deflate than a small one of the same kind. But what is the quantitative relation between the deflation time τ and the radius R of a balloon? A simple analysis, depending only upon elementary physics, shows that τ∼R7/2—a prediction that is surprisingly easy to illustrate with a party balloon, a tape measure, and a smart-phone app.
Drawing Physics is a collection of 51 essays each one organized around a simple, informative, lin... more Drawing Physics is a collection of 51 essays each one organized around a simple, informative, line drawing that conveys a key idea in the history of physics. The essays, each approximately 1000 words long, are chronologically ordered from Thales, who around 600 BCE explained and used the principles of triangulation, to Peter Higgs, who received the Nobel Prize in 2012 for his prediction of the Higgs boson. The essays expand on the science conveyed in each drawing and place that science in a broader cultural context. The essays are grouped into five sections: Antiquity, Middle Ages, Early Modern Period, Nineteenth Century, and Twentieth Century and Beyond. Each essay stands alone and requires no background in physics or mathematics.
We develop and numerically illustrate an exact solution of the multivariate, stochastic, differen... more We develop and numerically illustrate an exact solution of the multivariate, stochastic, differential equations that govern the velocity and position of a charged particle in a plane normal to a uniform, stationary, magnetic field. The equations self-consistently incorporate the Lorentz force into an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck collision model. Properties of the solution in the infinite dissipation limit are explored and the spectral energy density function is found
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