Physics 239: Quantitative Physics

Class meets MW 11:00 AM to 12:20 PM, Mayer Hall Addition, 2623.

Office Hours Mon. 3–4 PM and Tue. 1–2 PM; SERF 336

Lectures

Assignments

Problem Set Solutions

This course presents a diverse set of topics and methods used by working physicists to confront real-world physical problems. The course will emphasize physics not encountered in standard courses, as well as techniques for estimation and problem solving. The class is aimed at graduate students in physical sciences and engineering, and at ambitious undergraduates.

Topics include:

• Fermi problems
• Societal energy scales
• Renewable energy capacities
• E&M Units, Dimensional Analysis, and Natural Units
• The Buckingham Pi theorem
• Drag and Reynolds regimes
• Lift and flight
• Boundary Layers and rudimentary fluid mechanics
• Gravity and capillary waves (not the same as gravitational waves!)
• Diffusion and hobo-style stat mech
• Practical heat transfer in the real world
• Mechanics of materials
• Sound and related phenomena
• Metabolic processes and human physical performance
• Weather
• Climate change
• Optical phenomena
• Nuclear Physics

Students will be assessed via weekly problem sets. Students are expected to participate in class discussions, although this is not a graded component.

Professor Contact Info

Tom Murphy
SERF Buliding, Room 336, 534-1844
tmurphy@physics.ucsd.edu
Office hours (TBD), or by appointment (e-mail, phone, personal, drop by)

Recommended Books

Highly Recommended

• L. Weinstein and J. A. Adam, Guesstination, Princeton, (a light-hearted and sometimes frivolous exposure to quantitative estimation)
• S. Mahajan, P. Goldreich, S. Phinney, Order of Magnitude Physics, available here (text for Caltech version of course (that TM took); also check out Eugene Chiang's website on a similar course at Bekeley).
• D. J. C. MacKay, Sustainable Energy—without the hot air, available for free at http://www.withouthotair.com/ as a PDF, (brilliantly quantifies energy use and alternatives—a fun read)
• Frank Shu's article on the global energy crisis, (has a nice appendix estimating the scales of renewable energy options)

Recommended

• Sanjoy Mahajan, The Art of Insight in Science and Engineering: Mastering Complexity, MIT Press, 2014 (systematic approach to solving complex problems with an estimation focus)
• D. Tabor, Gases, liquids and solids, Penguin (properties of atoms, molecules, and their collective properties)
• J. Walker, The Flying Circus of Physics, (website), (loads of everyday life physics "problems" usually stimulating more questions than answers)
• A Tutorial on the Basic Physics of Climate Change, by Hafemeister and Schwartz, (nice seat-of-the-pants derivation of radiative properties of atmosphere)