modern-physics-in-our-daily-world.pptVIP

Modern physics in our daily world Shen Zhen May 30, 2011 Electricity was not invented by trying to make better candles It followed two centuries of patient observations : Volta, Coulomb, Ampère, Faraday and finally J.-C. MAXWELL Electromagnetism 1864 : Unification of all phenomenons of electricity and magnetism in four equations. The equations predict the existence of electromagntic waves which propagate at velocity c Light is an electromagnetic wave Prediction waiting for an experiment H. HERTZ 1887 A few examples IT Quantum optics Medical imaging Materials : liquid crystals, polymers… UNDERSTANDING OUR UNIVERSE GPS Global Positioning System Any point at the surface of the globe visible by 4 satellites orbiting at 20 000 km. Measurement of the time elapsed between the emission of a signal from the satellite and a receptor on earth. c 3. 108 m/sec , i.e. 300 meters in a microsecond Atomic clock : one second is the time needed for 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation produced by the transition between two hyperfine levels of Cs133 ; precision one second in 50 million years. Precision 10-10, i.e. centimeters BUT… Special relativity Einstein 1905 The satellite is in motion with respect to the earth. The time elapsed in the satellite frame appears ??dilated?? by a factor 1-v2/c2 -1/2 Its clocks look to us ??slow?? : the effect is that the clock is slow + 7 microseconds/day General relativity Einstein 1916 Masses ??curve?? space and time The gravitational attraction of the earth is lower at the altitude of 20 000km Clocks are fast : the atomic clock in the satellite is ahead of 45 microseconds/day The combined effect 45-7 38 microseconds/day would mean an error of several kilometers Without special general relativity the GPS would be useless Lasers CD, DVD, pointers, bar codes readers, etc. Very familiar objects. However when they were discovered Townes et al. 1960 , they were regarded as very interesting but for laboratory use exclusively. Las