THE ULTIMATE PHYSICS RESOURCE SITE!

Welcome physicists! Physics studies matter and energy, and the relationship between these two quantities. Physicists study the natural world involving objects smaller than atoms and larger than galaxies.

Anyone who has hit a ball (or been hit by one), been in a car, or ridden a bicycle has utilized physical intuition. Physical intuition is knowledge about the world that arises from interactions with one's surroundings.

Physicists categorize their understanding of the world based on observations. By studying how systems work (why does the ball travel in an arc from pitcher to batter? why do you lurch forward when a driver suddenly slams on the brakes? why is a bike easier to balance when it moves faster?) physicists learn the relationships and concepts that surround us. You too have studied the world and seen nature at work. You have been doing physics all your life!

This page is made for students enrolled or interested in physics. It serves as a jump site to numerous other sites on the web.

• Bang! Boing! Pop!? -- Interactive physics tutor best-suited for 7th through 12th graders with no prior experience in physics.

• Fizzics Fizzle -- PHENOMENAL SITE! Categorized according to what level physicist you are: beginner, intermediate, or advanced. Plus, this site has a separate section for COOL TOPICS! CHECK THEM OUT!

• Fizzix is Phun -- Excellent definitions for physics terms and equations.

• Physics Homepage for Glenbrook South -- Homepage for the honors physics course held at Glenbrook South School. The homepage for their non-honors course (which also has great GIF animations) can be reached by clicking here. U nless you are a student at the school, you cannot access their online problems or conceptual modules. All visitors are able to access their phenomenal GIF animations and QuickTime movies with accompanying explanations, and quizzes (with answers).

• Conceptual Physics -- Official site that accompanies Paul Hewitt's "Conceptual Physics" textbook. This textbook is used in many high school physics courses.

• Light Cone -- Comprehensive introduction to the theories of relativity. Includes image and movie files.

• Optical Illusions -- A collection of optical illusions.

• Physics is Phun! -- This site teaches students who have a had trigonometry, the following three topics: Projectile motion, electrodynamics, and momentum in two dimensions. The site also contains problems and an interactive game relating to each of these concepts.

• Here are links to gain more information about some famous physicists:
  • Bohr, Neils -- Modeled the atom and its radiation. He was also the first to suggest interpreting waves functionsas enabling one to determine probability densities. ese tell the probability per unit volume that a particle exists at different places in a set volume of space.

  • Born , Max -- Produced work of fundamental importance in quantum mechanics and theoretical physics.

  • Brahe, Tycho -- The last of the great astronomers to make observations without using a telescope. His observations helped establish that heavenly bodies could move and were changeable.

  • Curie, Marie -- Shared a Nobel Prize in 1903 for work on spontaneous radioactivity and the radiation emitted by radioactive substances. For more information about Marie Curie, click here. A link to other internet resources about Marie Curie can be reached by clicking here.

  • de Broglie, Louis Victor -- Discovered the wave nature of electrons and postulated that all matter have wave properties. Another site that focuses on some of de Broglie's work and specifically explores the question,"Wave or a Particle-or Both?" is found by clicking the question.

  • Einstein, Albert -- Explained the photoelectric effect, special relativity, general relativity, and more. Another site that deals specifically with Einstein, the man and his theories, can be reached by clicking here. Another good Einstein site can be found by clicking here.

  • Faraday, Michael -- A gifted experimenter that worked with electromagnetism. He introduced the idea of electric fields and electric filed lines. He also did a lot of work with capacitors (and the units of capacitance, "Farads," are named after him.)

  • Fermi, Enrico -- He was an accomplished experimental and theoretical physicist. He postulated the existence of neutrinos.

  • Feynman, Richard -- He helped develop the atomic bomb, expanded the understanding of quantumelectrodynamics, and more! Here is a page that contains some information on Feynman, and has a fabulous link to the site entitled, "Feynman Online." The following link connects to a page full of Feynman links.

  • Galileo Galilei -- Contributed to the development of classical mechanics with his work on the laws of motion for objects experiencing constant acceleration.

  • Halley, Ed mond -- He discovered numerous, previously undiscovered, stars and nebulae. He also discovered the comet that is named for him and deduced that it was the same comet passing again and again through our sky.

  • Hawking, Stephen -- This is Professor Stephen Hawking's webpage. It includes a brief biography and introduces visitor's to his work. It is a graphics page, and the text only page (takes less time to load) can be reached by clicking here. He is a brilliant British astrophysicist that hasworked on the basic laws which govern the universe. Quoting directly from his webpage, "with Roger Penrose he showed that Einstein's General Theory of Relativity implied space and time would have a beginning in the Big Bang and an end in black holes. These results indicated it was necessary to unify General Relativity with Quantum Theory. One consequence of such a unification that he discovered was that black holes should not be completely black, but should emit radiation and eventually evaporate and disappear. Another conjecture is that the universe has no edge or boundary in imaginary time. This would imply that the way the universe began was completely determined by the laws of science."

  • Heisenberg, Werner -- German thoeretical physicist who developed an abstract mathematical model of the atom called 'matrix mechanics' to explain the wavelengths of spectral lines. He also predicted two forms of molecular hydrogen and made theoretical models of the nucleus. He is most famous for his uncertainty principles (for which he won the 1932 Nobel Prize) which says it is fundamentally impossible to make simultaneous measurements of the exact position and exact momentum of a particle.

  • Lord Kelvin (same as William Thomson) -- First to propose the use of an absolute scale of temperature (and the Kelvin scale was named in his honor).

  • Kepler, Jo hannes -- Successfully determined the laws that govern planetary motion.

  • M axwell, James -- First to solve the speed distribution of gas molecules, and put electromagnetism on a solid theoretical basis by putting others' ideas into mathematical form. Another Maxwell link can be reached by clicking here.

  • Millikan, Robert -- Measured the charge on an electron and studied the photoelectric effect experimentally.

  • Newton, I saac -- Formulated the basic concepts and laws of mechanics, discovered the law of universal gravitation, and inented calculus.

  • Oppenheimer, Robert -- Quantum theory had been proposed during his lifetime and he devoted much effort into its development. His early research was devoted in particular to energy processes of subatomic particles.

  • Paul i, Wolfgang -- Austrian theoretical physicist who discovered the exclusion principle, explained the connection between particle spin and statisitics, and created theories of relativistic quantum electrodynamics, the neutrino hypothesis, and hypothesized nuclear spin.

  • Planck, M ax -- Discovered energy quanta when trying to explain the spectral distribution of black-body radiation. This set the foundation for quantum theory.

  • R utherford, Ernest -- Showed that radiation emitted by radioactive nucei was of three types, which he called alpha, beta, and gamma rays. Also learned that the atom contained a positively charged nucleus.

  • Schrodinger, Erwin -- Created wave mechanics, which helped quantum theory gain acceptance in the scientific community. He also did work in statistical mechanics, general relativity, and more. Other links to good Schrodinger sites can be reached by clicking here or here.

  • Thomson, William (later in life he changed his name to Lord Kelvin) -- First to propose the use of an absolute scale of temperature (and the Kelvin scale was named in his honor).

    
    

• Brookhaven National Laboratory -- Does research in physics, medicine, biology, chemistry, environmental science, and more. It has more than 600 research programs going on right now in fields ranging from high-energy physics to drug addiction to weapons nonproliferation.

• CERN -- A European laboratory for particle physics

• FermiLab -- Particle physics research is performed here. They explore basic particles and the forces of nature.

• Keck Observatory -- According to the website, "Astronomers at the W.M. Keck Observatory probe the deepest regions of the Universe with unprecedented power and precision."

• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory -- A U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory. Focuses on global security, global ecology, and bioscience. Laboratory employees are working with industrial and academic partners to increase national economic competitiveness and improve science education.

• Los Alamos National Laboratory -- As stated on this website, their central mission is "enhancing the security of nuclear weapons and nuclear materials worldwide. [Their] statutory responsibility is the stewardship and management of the nuclear stockpile. This requires a solid foundation in science and state-of-the-art technology."

• How Things Work -- This interactive site allows visitors to ask questions about how and why certain things are as they are. The site also lists previous questions and one can learn a lot from reading what people have asked and the accompanying answers. A VERY interesting site!

• Mad Scientist Network -- Allows you to pose questions to scientists online.

• Frank Potter's Physical Science Links -- Page filled with thousands of links to websites regarding physics concepts. The sites are categorized according to the material covered and appropriate grade level.

• Science Education Resources -- Contains links to science websites, demonstrations, software, and ways to ask scientists your questions!