Why this module
The concept of a wave cuts across all areas of science. In this module the evolution of this important paradigm in scientific thinking is examined. We will start with a discussion of directly perceivable wave phenomena to understand how scientific notions are derived from concrete empirical observations. We will then investigate how the wave description of natural phenomena allows scientists to probe and discover microscopic scale interactions of matter. We will end with an examination of the important idea of the abstract quantum wave.
The goals in this module are as follows. The first is to underscore the empirical nature of science. We will follow the process of scientific activity consisting of iterative cycles of imagination, intuition and guesswork, model-building and quantitative reasoning and prediction, and comparison with empirical observations. We will illustrate this using the study of wave phenomena. The discussion of waves will be used as a framework to illustrate how a concept that was originally used to describe concrete empirical phenomena has evolved into an abstract concept with a central role in the framework of the quantum mechanical description of the natural world. We also discuss the unifying elements in scientific descriptions of very diverse natural phenomena. We will analyze diverse wave phenomena using essentially the simple notion that a physical disturbance in a system propagates because of the underlying interactions. It is important for students from both Arts and Science backgrounds to understand these aspects of scientific activity.
Learning objectives
Students will:
- understand the role of empirical observations in the development of scientific ideas
- examine the evolution of a simple descriptive concept originating from empirical observations into an abstract idea that sheds light on nature at the microscopic scale
- learn to use the idea of waves to describe a diverse range of natural phenomena so that they can appreciate the broad applicability of some elementary ideas in science
- learn to make inferences about the nature of interactions in matter from the properties of the waves that we observe propagating
Grading
| Tutorials Q+A |
20% |
| Class participation |
10% |
| Quizzes / Tests / Mid-term exam |
30% |
| Projects and Presentations |
40% |
|
