Physics 2a: Waves and Vibrations

In Spring 2023, I was one of the TAs for Physics 2a: Waves and Vibrations, taught by Sergi Hildebrandt.

My recitation notes can be found below:

DateTitleDescription
30 September 2022Wired and Loopypractice problem involving the equilibria of a bead on a rotating wire loop under the influence of gravity
5 October 2022Supernatural Precessionpractice problem involving the “effective potential” orbit problem in both Newtonian mechanics and general relativity
7 October 2022The Answer to Everything is Onepractice problems involving guessing the answers to problems across physics using only dimensional analysis
12 October 2022
14 October 2022		Impedance is Futilenotes on using the complex impedance to solve problems in linear circuits
19 October 2022Swing Danceforced double pendulum problem which models a child kicking their feet on a swing set
21 October 2022Breath of Fresh Airpractice problem which uses a combination of dimensional analysis and coupled oscillation to understand why carbon dioxide scatters infrared light
26 October 2022Duck Talesnotes and practice problems related to damped harmonic oscillation in a “rubber duck” toy problem, as well as in RLC circuits
28 October 2022Use the Central Forcepractice problems involving finding the epicyclic frequencies of various central force potentials, including applications to gravity
2 November 2022Do the Diagonal Shufflenotes on solving systems of linear differential equations using linear algebra, and a practice problem on many “small” springs coupled to a “big” spring
4 November 2022The Ultimate Spring Problemproblem on deriving and then solving the wave equation for a series of springs
9 November 2022String Theoryproblem on deriving and then solving the wave equation for the transverse oscillations of a string, on the energy stored in the oscillations, and the decomposition of general oscillations into separable ones
11 November 2022Act or Diffractpractice problem about the diffraction patterns due to two thin slits and due to one finite-size slit, both in the Fraunhofer limit
16 November 2022Getting Tensepractice problem explaining the circumstances under oscillations on a string with varying tension behave similarly to oscillations on a string with constant tension
18 November 2022Setting the Record Straightnotes using diffraction in the paraxial approximation to explain why light travels in straight lines, even though it is actually a wave
30 November 2022Smile and Wavepractice problems on deriving the phase and group velocities, and calculating them in different physical systems
2 December 2022Daunting Uncertaintynotes about the basic ideas of quantum mechanics, first in the context of a two-state system and then in the context of a particle in an infinite well potential