Classical Mechanics and Thermodynamics

Classical Mechanics

• Classical mechanics describes the motion of macroscopic objects.
• It's based on Newton's laws of motion.
• Key concepts include: force, mass, acceleration, momentum, energy, and work.
• Newton's first law states that an object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
• Newton's second law states that the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting on it and inversely proportional to its mass. This is often expressed as F = ma, where F is force, m is mass, and a is acceleration.
• Newton's third law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
• Applications include understanding planetary orbits, predicting projectile trajectories, and analyzing the motion of everyday objects.

Thermodynamics

• Thermodynamics deals with heat, work, and energy transfer.
• Key concepts include: temperature, heat, internal energy, entropy, and the laws of thermodynamics.
• The first law of thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred or changed from one form to another.
• The second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy of an isolated system can only increase over time. This also implies that spontaneous heat flow occurs from hot to cold objects.
• The third law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of a perfect crystal at absolute zero is zero.
• Applications include power plants, refrigerators, engines, and understanding chemical reactions.

Electromagnetism

• Electromagnetism describes the interaction between electric charges and magnetic fields.
• Key concepts include: electric fields, magnetic fields, electric current, electromagnetic waves, and forces between charges and currents.
• Electric fields are created by stationary electric charges, and magnetic fields are created by moving electric charges.
• Electromagnetic waves, such as light and radio waves, are produced by accelerating electric charges.
• Applications include electrical generation, communication technologies, and the understanding of light and other electromagnetic radiation.

Optics

• Optics deals with the behavior and properties of light.
• Key concepts include reflection, refraction, diffraction, interference, polarization, and lenses.
• Reflection is the bouncing of light off a surface.
• Refraction is the bending of light as it passes from one medium to another.
• Diffraction is the spreading of light as it passes through an aperture or around an obstacle.
• Interference is the interaction of two or more waves, resulting in either reinforcement or cancellation.
• Polarization is the property of light waves that describes the orientation of their oscillations.
• Applications include telescopes, microscopes, eyeglasses, and lasers.

Quantum Mechanics

• Quantum mechanics describes the behavior of matter and energy at the atomic and subatomic levels.
• Key concepts include: quantization of energy, wave-particle duality, uncertainty principle, and quantum fields.
• The quantization of energy means that energy can only exist in specific discrete values, not continuous ones.
• Wave-particle duality means that matter and energy can exhibit both wave-like and particle-like properties.
• The uncertainty principle states that there is a fundamental limit to the precision with which certain pairs of physical properties of a particle, such as position and momentum, can be known simultaneously.
• Applications include: understanding the structure of atoms, semiconductors, lasers, and nuclear reactions.