Introduction

The Physics Hypertextbook™
© 1998-2008 by Glenn Elert -- A Work in Progress
All Rights Reserved -- Fair Use Encouraged

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Discussion

Everybody's favorite quote about Classical physics.

There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement."

William Thomson a.k.a. Lord Kelvin (1824-1907) Ireland-Scotland in an address to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, (Royal Institute?) 1900.

This second part seems apocryphal.

He then added that there were "two small clouds on the horizon": blackbody radiation and the Michelson-Morley experiment.

Frayed edges on the tapestry of Classical physics leading to Modern Physics …

• relativity
  • no apparent motion through the ether
  • precession of the perihelion of mercury
• quantum mechanics
  • blackbody radiation and the ultraviolet catastrophe
  • photoelectric effect
  • discrete atomic spectra and the problem of how atoms manage to exist
  • radioactive decay

Summary

• bullet

Problems

practice

1. Write something.
   • Answer it.
2. Write something.
   • Answer it.
3. Write something.
   • Answer it.
4. Write something completely different.
   • Answer it.

numerical

1. problems

Resources

• general
  • The Mechanical Universe and Beyond (video on demand, login required)
    • Beyond the Mechanical Universe, The world of electricity and magnetism, and 20th-century discoveries of relativity and quantum mechanics.
    • The Quantum Mechanical Universe, A last look at where we've been and a peek into the future.

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