Physics 262 Lecture Notes

Archives of Lecture Notes can be found below. Please be aware that the individual file sizes are large (>1M each).

Archives of Lecture Notes will be posted below. They will be in pdf format

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Although copies of the lecture notes are provided here, it is highly advisable that you should take note in the class. Passing the information from your eye, through your brain, and to your hands will help you to retain the information much better. You should also note that there might be small changes in these notes as compare to the one presented in class.


  1. Chapter 17(Lecture #1)
  2. Here are some interesting links to the story behind the invention of the Fahrenheit temperature scale.
  3. Chapter 17(Lecture #2)
  4. In today lecture, you also saw the latent heat of fusion relased by the hand warmer. The inside material is a regular material, sodium actate, which you can find in most kitchens. The sodium actate liquid can be supercooled below its normal freezing point at 58℃. Here is a description on how the hand warmer works.
  5. Chapters 17 & 18(Lecture #3)
  6. Chapter 18(Lecture #4)
  7. Chapters 18 & 19(Lecture #5)
  8. Chapter 19(Lecture #6)
  9. Here is link to some history of the fire piston. For those of you interested in buying one for camping, you can just search online on google or amazon.
  10. Chapters 19 & 20(Lecture #7)
  11. Here is a short description on how a Sterling Engine works, link.
  12. Chapter 20(Lecture #8)
  13. Here is the second sample example which you can practice on for your exam: link.
  14. Chapter 20(Lecture #9)
  15. Thermal Section Summary Sheet
  16. Here is a recent book review from NYT on a new book by physicist Brian Greene with an interesting musing on entropy and the end of time.
  17. Exam day(Lecture #10)
  18. Chapter 33 (Lecture #11)
  19. Chapter 33 (Lecture #12)
  20. Chapter 34 (Lecture #13)
  21. Chapter 34 (Lecture #14)
  22. Chapter 35 (Lecture #15)
  23. Chapter 35 & 36 (Lecture #16)
  24. Here is a link to a brief description of the Poisson's spot. If you have a small telescope at home, you can also try to recreate it following the description in this article.
  25. Chapters 36 (Lecture #17)
  26. Chapters 36 & 37 (Lecture #18)
  27. 2nd Sample Exam #2
  28. Chapters 37 (Lecture #19)
  29. Optics Review Notes
  30. Exam day(Lecture #20)
  31. Chapter 37 (Lecture #21)
  32. Here is a link to a recent article on how new measurements of the muon's
  33. Chapter 37 (Lecture #22)
  34. Chapter 37 (Extra slides for Special Relativity) Among other topics, we didn't go over the disucssion on Space-Time diagrams in class but for those interested in learning about them, please read them over. A Space-Time diagram can be useful in visualizing effects in Special Relativity.
  35. Good introductory articles on General Relativity for those of you who are interested from Einstein online, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics.
  36. Chapter 38 (Lecture #23)
  37. Chapter 38 (Lecture #24)
  38. Here is the soln to the EC problem.
  39. Chapters 38 & 39 (Lecture #25)
  40. Here is the article to a recent quantum interference experiment with large bio-molecules. As Richard Feynman once said: "The basic element of quantum theory is the double-slit experiment. It is a phenomenon which is impossible, absolutely impossible to explain in any classical way and which has in it the heart of quantum mechanics. In reality it contains the only mystery ... the basic peculiarities of all quantum mechanics."
  41. Here is also an interview of Louis de Broglie stored at the Institut national de l'audiovisuel (INA) (National Audiovisual Institute) which is a repository of all French radio and television audiovisual archives. A YouTube version of it with English subtitle is here.
  42. Chapter 39 & 40 (Lecture #26)
  43. Additional slides on the quantum nature of a laser. If we have more time next week, I will try to go through it.
  44. A derivation of average E in Blackbody Radiation (in pdf format) I am sorry that I did not include this in the last set of lecture slides.
  45. Chapter 40 (Lecture #27)
  46. Here is another set of sample problems on modern physics for you to practice on.
  47. Chapter 40 (Lecture #28)
  48. End-of-Chapter Summary Sheets