If you choose, you may turn in a term paper on any topic relating to Modern Physics this semester. You will need to submit a one sentence written "choice of topic" by Wed, Mar. 6, (which I must approve), and a brief abstract (with at least 3 references) is required by Wed., Mar 20. If I don't receive these from you, I will not accept a paper from you later!
The abstract should be a one paragraph statement of your topic, with a summary of the main ideas you intend to discuss. (I won't mind if your abstract changes by the time you actually write the paper, but this forces you to start thinking about the topic and forming a coherent idea of your paper well before the final product is due!) The references can be from textbooks, journal articles, anything you like, as long as they directly bear on your paper.
The paper itself is due on Monday, Apr. 8, and should be typed. I will return the graded papers with comments and suggestions, and you are welcome to turn in a rewritten version, also typed, due by Mon, Apr. 29, if you wish. (Any paper turned in after Apr. 8 but before Apr. 29 will be accepted, but no rewrite will be available to you. No paper or rewrite will be accepted for any reason after Apr. 29)
This paper is intended to explain to an intelligent physics major some fairly specific topic in modern physics. It should be aimed at the level of your fellow classmates! This is not intended to be a "journal article", but more like a review. You may assume that the reader knows Physics 1110, 1120, and 2140, and as much of 2170 as you have learned yourself. You will be judged on content, organization, use of evidence/reference, logic, and clarity of presentation.
You are free to write about whatever topic of physics you like, and the length is up to you. I would suggest 4-8 pages might be appropriate for most topics. (Figures, pictures, appendices, and references might add a bit)
This paper is optional. If you do not turn one in, your final grade will be computed in the usual way (hw: 35%, quizzes:10%, mid terms: 15% each, final: 25%) If you do turn one in, and you get a B or better, it will be worth 6% of your total grade, and your HW and quzzes will become 33% and 6% respectively. If your paper is lower than a B, it will simply be ignored, and your grade will again be computed in the usual way. In this way, I guarantee that the paper can only help your grade, and can't possibly hurt it. (If you paper improves after a rewrite, the earlier grade will be ignored.)
Following are some possible ideas for topics:
Bose-Einstein Condensation.
High temperature superconductivity.
Discovery of the top quark.
The "death" of the superconducting super-collider.
Recent claims of observations of black holes (or planets outside the solar system, or the "Einstein Cross", due to gravitational lensing, or any other new Hubble discoveries)
The solar neutrino puzzle.
The dark matter puzzle.
COBE and the 3 degree "Big-Bang" background radiation.
Philosophy of quantum mechanics: The EPR paradox, or Bell's inequality, or Schrodinger's cat, or...
History of modern mechanics: the fights between Einstein and Bohr, or the development of QED, or relativity, or...
The use of modern physics in technological applications: lasers or IC's or GPS, or nuclear medicine, or...
Some of these topics I'm pretty familiar with (others I'm not!). You might just browse through some recent Scientific Americans, or surf the WWW , or even Beiser's textbook to look for ideas of your own. (But, if your topic is not on this list, please be sure that I approve it before you start working on the paper!) You are welcome to use the computer lab to prepare your paper - TeX and LaTeX are available on some of the NeXT machines. These are scientific typesetting languages - extremely powerful, but if you've never used them there's a bit of a learning curve.