Useful weblinks

This page will be updated frequently!

• Don't forget the supplemental readings and reserve articles!

• Week of January 8 -- how science works, chemistry and atoms, periodic law
• Week of January 15 -- how science works, solar system, latitude/longitude, plate tectonics
• Week of January 22 -- measurement, buoyancy, gravity and orbital motion
• Week of January 27 -- velocity, acceleration and gravity
• Week of February 5 -- momentum and energy
• Week of February 12 -- thermodynamics
• Week of February 19 -- thermodynamics
• Week of February 26 -- electricity and magnetism
• Week of March 26 -- quantum mechanics
• Week of April 2 -- nuclear science
• Week of April 9 -- stars
• Week of April 16 -- Relativity and Cosmology

Week of January 8

• Required readings:
  • How science works
  • Mendeleev and the periodic table

Week of January 15

• Required readings:
  • Models of the solar system
  • Physical measurement
• Analemma.com, which contains nifty animations that relate to the first lab, "Earth, Sun, Shadows and Where Are We?"
• Here's an MSN search for pages on Occam's Razor. Especially useful is this page, which discusses practical reasons for preferring simple models and explanations.
• Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion: a NASA site that gives a brief discussion and Java simulation of each Law.
• Plate tectonics and geology:
  • This Dynamic Earth: The Story of Plate Tectonics, by W.J. Kious and R.I. Tilling, is an online book from the USGS.
  • Plate Tectonics, a short site from UC Berkeley, has a number of animations.
  • Plate Tectonics, the Cause of Earthquakes is a graphics-heavy site which presents a good summary of the theory. This is from John Louie's GEOL 100 site at the University of Nevada at Reno.

Week of January 22

• Required readings:
  • Physical measurements

Week of January 27

• Derivation of the equations for velocity and acceleration

Week of February 5

• Derivation of the work-energy theorem (the equivalence of kinetic energy and work)
• Paper airplanes:
  • The best paper airplane in the world
  • Learn2 Make a Paper Airplane
  • Ken Blackburn holds the world record for flight time for a paper airplane. Mr. Blackburn's website has little information except his four books on folding paper airplanes.
• How escape velocity is calculated
• Information on electric and hybrid-electric vehicles
  • The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory
  • The US Department of Energy's Hybrid Electric Vehicle Program is part of the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles
  • A good list of links from the Electric and Hybrid Vehicle National Data Center

Week of February 12

• Required readings on thermodynamics:
  1. Modes of heat transfer
  2. Thermodynamic systems
  3. The First Law of Thermodynamics

Week of February 19

• Required readings on thermodynamics:
  4. Heat engines and efficiency
  5. Heat engines can never operate at 100% efficiency
  6. The Second Law of Thermodynamics
• Reserve articles on thermodynamics
• Frank Lambert's comprehensive site on the Second Law of Thermodynamics and his more mathematical follow-up website
• More on entropy:
  • Dave Slaven's EntRoPy Page
  • The Entropy page at the University of California at San Diego.
  • A page on Entropy and Evolution which outlines what the Second Law of Thermodynamics does and doesn't say in an origin-of-life context.

Week of February 26

• How Electromagnets Work
• How Electric Motors Work
• How the Power Distribution Grid Works
• How Surge Protectors Work
• Why do some outlet plugs have two prongs and others have three prongs?
• Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters

Week of March 26

• See the reserve articles:
  • Why don't atoms collapse?
  • How does color vision work?
  • Why is the ocean blue? (1)
  • Why is the ocean blue? (2)
• Dave Slaven's pages on
  • The Atom
  • The Page of Uncertainty
• Don't forget to visit Bob's School of Quantum Mechanics

Week of April 2

• See the reserve articles:
  • How was the atom first split? This article gives a thumbnail sketch, with references, of the discovery of nuclear fission.
  • What happens to the extra electrons in an alph-decay process? This explains how radioactive decay products are absorbed by the surrounding material.
  • How can you be sure how much carbon an organism absorbs? This explains roughly how carbon-14 dating works, with links to more resources.
  • How do you split atoms? This explains how nuclear fission works.

• The ABCs of Nuclear Science

• Useful information:
  • The RadioCarbon Web, everything you ever wanted to know about radioactive dating methods.
  • Joseph Gonyeau's Virtual Nuclear Tourist--everything you ever wanted to know about fission power.
  • The Internet Plasma Physics Education Experience!--everything you ever wanted to know about fusion power.

• The debacle at Chernobyl gives detailed analysis of the accident, including official reports.
• Dave's Microcosmos, which discusses the what and why of nuclear physics.

Week of April 9

1. Check out the reserve articles!
2. The supplemental reading for this week includes lots of weblinks.

Week of April 16

1. The supplemental readings for this week include lots of weblinks.
   • Cosmology and Olbers' Paradox
   • Relativity (emphasizes Special Relativity)

2. Dave's Relativity Page, an excellent and chatty introduction and discussion of the background and consequences of relativity.
3. Spacetime Wrinkles, from the University of Illinois. Includes a number of video clips. Part of the NCSA "Science for the Millenium" Expo.
4. The Light Cone, which gives a full discussion of the background and implications of relativity. The level is somewhat above "chatty."
5. Spacetime 101 gives some of the basic background (the focus of the site is time travel).