Waves are everywhere - it's how most energy propagates in the world.
Think of microwaves in the oven, or music from your headphones, the light
that reaches your eyes, ripples on a pond... The word wave usually
connotes water waves
and surfers, but the picture shown on the left is at a
very different scale - from IBM's
scanning tunneling microscope group , which has many remarkable
images of atomic-scale objects. What you are seeing is effectively a
picture of a corral of individual iron atoms on a copper surface, and
the waves in the middle are "electron waves", a standing wave resulting
from the purely quantum mechanical fact that even particles like
electrons behave, in many respects, like waves (and vice versa!)
Week 14 Highlights:
Intro to waves
This week, we're in Ch 17 of HRW, Chapter 11 of Thinkwell on
Waves
Special notes: 
- There is a participation survey online. (#9)
- Here are some useful avi files showing some wave interference phenomena.
- Your midterm grades (and more) have been EMAILED to you! See the exams
and grades link for more details.
- If you are interested in applying to be an LA (learning assistant) for
my Phys 1110 class next semester, please see me! You can *also* apply
online by going to the
STEM-TP web page , you'll see the application second from the bottom on
the left. But my form has one or two EXTRA questions related to physics
only, so I'd like you to also get the printed form from me. (If you want to
do the online one, save your replies in a file, so you don't have to retype
everything!)
Old home page from weeks
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12
13
or 14
We welcome your comments on the class and this website. Send them to Prof. Pollock
