Projects In Computational Physics


What is it?
Interactive web tutorials in Computational Physics. Each tutorial is part of a problem-solving format containing:
Who is it for?
Upper-level undergraduate or graduate students in science and engineering and everyone else who wants to do a little more than surfing the internet.
Based on:
Class projects in Computational Physics course, Ph 465-6, at Oregon State University.
Made into full-length book Computational Physics by Landau and Paez, with Kowallik and Jansen. New: Table of Contents with Web Links.
Samples from the projects:
Movies of Wavepacket-Wavepacket Scattering
Unusual solutions of time-dependent Schroedinger equation for two particles.
Bilingual Physics Applet Collection (with Universidad Antioquia, Medellin)
Chose from English or Spanish and interact with the Physics.
Monte Carlo Techniques
How to generate pseudorandom numbers, and then some Monte Carlo applications which simulate radioactive decay and evaluate integrals.
For Demo of interactive sound generation, go to: 1. Spontaneous Decay Simulation; 2. Project; 3. Plot; 4. Geiger Counter.
Differential Equations and Oscillations
The numerical solution of ordinary differential equations as applied to linear and nonlinear oscillators.
For Demo of interactive plotting, go to: 1. 2nd Order Differenetial Equations; 2. Project; 3. Plot.
Sounds of Physical Systems
Experiments at converting graphs into sounds.
For Demo of sonification: Just click on graphs and keep asking for more.
Chaotic Pendulum
Interactive plots and animations for realistic pendulum.

Supported by: US National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education grant DUE-9450841, a US Department of Energy/Nuclear Physics Division grant at OSU, the Northwest Alliance for Computational Science and Engineering NACSE (NSF-funded Metacenter Regional Alliance), and the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (NPACI)
Rubin H Landau,
rubin@physics.orst.edu
Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon