Dr. Aniruddha Chakraborty
School of Basic Sciences
Indian Institute of Technology Mandi
Kamand, Himachal Pradesh 175005
India
ph: +(91)1905-237930
achakrab
Course Details: <<back
Energy is at the heart of science and yet no course exists specifically to explain it, and in simple terms.
Using only a very minimum amount of mathematics, this course will explain the modern concept of energy, in all its known forms: Hamilton's mechanics and how it shaped twentieth-century physics, and the meaning of kinetic energy, potential energy, temperature, action, and entropy. Many fascinating questions will be covered in this course, including:
- Why just kinetic and potential energies - is one more fundamental than the other?
- What are heat, temperature and action?
- What is the Hamiltonian?
- What have engines to do with physics?
- Why S=k ln W works?
Course Outline:
Naive conceptions of energy.
Energy as the cause of things.
Definitions of energy.
Energy and work.
Conservation of energy.
Kinetic Energy (K.E.).
Potential Energy (P.E.).
Internal Energy: K.E. and P.E. mingled.
Different Forms of Energy.
Energy as substance - can it be stored?
Work and Kinetic Energy.
Suggested Books:
1. Introductory Quantum Mechanics, R. L. Liboff (4th edition) Addison-Wesley (2002).
2. Modern Quantum Chemistry, Attila Szabo, Dover (2000).
3. Molecular Spectroscopy, Jeanne L. McHale, Prentice Hall (1998).
Further Reading:
Watts, D. Michael (1983). Some alternative views of energy. Physics Education, 18 (5), 213-217.
Warren, J. W. (1983). Energy and its carriers: A critical analysis. Physics Education, 18 (5), 209-212.
Sherwood, Bruce Arne (1983). Pseudowork and real work. American Journal of Physics, 51 (7), 597-602.
Lehrman, Robert L. (1973). Energy is not the ability to do work. The Physics Teacher, 11 (1), 15-18.
Ellse, Mark (1988). Transferring not transforming energy. School Science Review, 69 (24), 427-437.
Bernard, W. H. (1984). Internal work: A misinterpretation. American Journal of Physics, 52 (3),253-254.
Duit, Reinders (1987). Should energy be illustrated as something quasi-material? International Journal of Science Education, 9 (2), 139-145.
"Fundamental Research - only few can do & fewer can understand."
Dr. Aniruddha Chakraborty
School of Basic Sciences
Indian Institute of Technology Mandi
Kamand, Himachal Pradesh 175005
India
ph: +(91)1905-237930
achakrab