F1520 Interesting Physics

Faculty of Science
Autumn 2008
Extent and Intensity
2/0. 1 credit(s) (plus extra credits for completion). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
prof. Mgr. Tomáš Tyc, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Jiří Bartoš, PhD. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. RNDr. Michal Lenc, Ph.D.
Department of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics – Physics Section – Faculty of Science
Contact Person: prof. Mgr. Tomáš Tyc, Ph.D.
Timetable of Seminar Groups
F1520/01: Tue 13:00–14:50 F2 6/2012
F1520/02: Tue 15:00–16:50 F2 6/2012, T. Tyc
Prerequisites (in Czech)
Zájem o pozorování fyzikálních jevů v každodenním životě, schopnost o nich přemýšlet a vysvětlit alespoň některé z nich
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The focus of the course Interesting Physics is to observe interesting physics phenomena from the everyday life and to make nice physics demonstrations. The emphasis is placed on clearness and illustrativeness in explaining the observed phenomena, and on making experiments demonstrating these phenomena.
The main objectives are: attracting students' attention to observing and interpreting interesting physics phenomena from the everyday life, and inspiration and motivation for looking around us by the eyes of physics.
Syllabus
  • The syllabus of the course is not fixed but changes gradually, and new topics are added from time to time. The discussed phenomena belong to different areas of physics - mechanics, acoustics, thermodynamics, optics, electromagnetism, fluid mechanics etc. Selection of topics:
  • Mechanics used in the everyday life (e.g. riding on a bike or balancing)
  • Stress tensor illustrated in a pretty way using a carrot
  • How a reflecting glass and other optical instruments work
  • How to understand the rotation of objects, e.g. a wooden block or a carton of juice
  • Soap bubbles (how they emerge, where their colours come from etc., interesting experiments with bubbles)
  • Atmospheric optics (mirage, fata morgana, why the sky is blue, rainbow and halos)
  • Physics of weather
  • Tidal phenomena
  • Vortices (what determines direction of a vortex in a wash basin, vortex rings)
  • Surface tension, its origin, manifestations and applications
  • Similarity theory (how we would perceive the world if we were 100x smaller etc.
  • Interference and diffraction in our lives
  • Physics in the kitchen
  • Magnetism and its applications
  • Electrostatics
Literature
  • Perelman, Zajímavá fyzika
  • BLOOMFIELD, Louis. How things work : the physics of everyday life. 3rd ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2006, xiv, 561. ISBN 047146886X. info
  • J. Walker, The Flying Circus of Physics
  • JEFFERS, Fred. Mondo magnets : 40 attractive (and repulsive) devices & demonstrations. Chicago, Ill.: Chicago Review Press, 2007, vi, 152. ISBN 9781556526305. info
Assessment methods
To complete the course successfully, the student must be present on at least 75% of lectures and complete the final oral examination. In this examination the student must show that he/she understands the phenomena discussed in the lectures and is able to think about them reasonably.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is taught once in two years.
General note: S.
Teacher's information
http://www.physics.muni.cz/~tomtyc/zajfyz.html
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2010 - only for the accreditation, Autumn 2000, Autumn 2001, Autumn 2002, Autumn 2004, Autumn 2006, Autumn 2010, Autumn 2011 - acreditation, Autumn 2012, Autumn 2014, Autumn 2016, Autumn 2018, Autumn 2019, Autumn 2020, autumn 2021, Autumn 2022, Autumn 2023.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2008, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/sci/autumn2008/F1520