Nuclear Physics and Radioactivity     Radioactivity is spontaneous and random.  The probability that an atom will decay remains constant for the entire life of…

Atomic Physics   Rutherford Experiment (aka Geiger-Marsden)       My summary   Rutherford shot alpha particles at a thin film of gold foil Most…

Thermal Energy Transfer / Greenhouse Effect    Some Background   IB calls this topic Thermal Energy Transfer, but really it’s about the greenhouse effect and…

The sequence of development of quantum mechanics, summed up for IB students, from me:   (1) Hydrogen atoms emit a discrete spectrum of light.  This is our first…

a a Thermal physics provided the transition from macroscopic physics to microscopic physics, and electricity is all about electrons, so why are we backtracking now…

a I love physics, but I used to think this one topic, thermal physics, was boring.  I had to teach it twice before I understood…