P23J / PHYS2395

Computer Applications in Physics

(4 Credits) Semester II Level II

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Prerequisites : P 14A / PHYS1410 & P 14B / PHYS 1420, and (M 08B/MATH0100, and M 08C/MATH0110 or A-Level Maths or CAPE Maths)

Aim

To become proficient in the use of the computer as a tool for analytical and experimental physics.

Objectives

• To use high level programming language and/or application specific software to solve some problems in physics.
• To apply some basic numerical methods in solving physics problems.
• To use computational and graphical approaches to analyse physics topics such as projectile motion, radioactive decay, gravity and planetary motion, oscillations and waves, gas laws
• To use/create models of simple physical systems

Content

Consists of six sections each of which is an introduction

(i) to the chosen programming environment and language

(ii) to basic computational methods, including roots of equations, integration and differentiation, the Taylor series, series approximation and limits of accuracy.

(iii) to topics in physics which can be readily solved by computers including

• Projectile motion
• Radioactive decay
• Gravity and planetary motion
• Oscillations and waves
• Gas Laws

. (iv) to the computational analysis of the above topics. The above topics will require the use of the aforementioned computational methods and an introduction to the computational treatment of first and second order differential equations. For some topics the computational approach will also permit a more realistic analysis, e.g., with the introduction of air friction in projectile motion and 3-body gravitational interaction

(v) to data analysis

(vi) to modeling of physical systems, such as simple climate models, Van der Waals gas.

Evaluation (Overall theory and Practical to be passed separately):

One 2-hour theory examination paper 60%

One 1-hour in-course test 20%