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Rayleigh–Lorentz Pendulum
Rayleigh–Lorentz pendulum (or Lorentz pendulum) is a simple pendulum, but subjected to a slowly varying frequency due to an external action (frequency is varied by varying the pendulum length), named after Lord Rayleigh and Hendrik Lorentz. This problem formed the basis for the concept of adiabatic invariants in mechanics. On account of the slow variation of frequency, it is shown that the ratio of average energy to frequency is constant. History The pendulum problem was first formulated by Lord Rayleigh in 1902, although some mathematical aspects have been discussed before by Léon Lecornu in 1895. Unaware of Rayleigh's work, at the first Solvay conference in 1911, Hendrik Lorentz proposed a question, ''How does a simple pendulum behave when the length of the suspending thread is gradually shortened?'', in order to clarify the quantum theory at that time. To that Albert Einstein responded the next day by saying that both energy and frequency of the quantum pendulum changes such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simple Pendulum
A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward the equilibrium position. When released, the restoring force acting on the pendulum's mass causes it to oscillate about the equilibrium position, swinging back and forth. The time for one complete cycle, a left swing and a right swing, is called the period. The period depends on the length of the pendulum and also to a slight degree on the amplitude, the width of the pendulum's swing. From the first scientific investigations of the pendulum around 1602 by Galileo Galilei, the regular motion of pendulums was used for timekeeping and was the world's most accurate timekeeping technology until the 1930s. The pendulum clock invented by Christiaan Huygens in 1658 became the world's standard timekeeper, used in homes and offices for 270 years, and ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lord Rayleigh
John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, (; 12 November 1842 – 30 June 1919) was an English mathematician and physicist who made extensive contributions to science. He spent all of his academic career at the University of Cambridge. Among many honors, he received the 1904 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his investigations of the densities of the most important gases and for his discovery of argon in connection with these studies." He served as president of the Royal Society from 1905 to 1908 and as chancellor of the University of Cambridge from 1908 to 1919. Rayleigh provided the first theoretical treatment of the elastic scattering of light by particles much smaller than the light's wavelength, a phenomenon now known as "Rayleigh scattering", which notably explains why the sky is blue. He studied and described transverse surface waves in solids, now known as "Rayleigh waves". He contributed extensively to fluid dynamics, with concepts such as the Rayleigh number (a dimensio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hendrik Lorentz
Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (; 18 July 1853 – 4 February 1928) was a Dutch physicist who shared the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics with Pieter Zeeman for the discovery and theoretical explanation of the Zeeman effect. He also derived the Lorentz transformation underpinning Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity, as well as the Lorentz force, which describes the combined electric and magnetic forces acting on a charged particle in an electromagnetic field. Lorentz was also responsible for the Lorentz oscillator model, a classical model used to describe the anomalous dispersion observed in dielectric materials when the driving frequency of the electric field was near the resonant frequency, resulting in abnormal refractive indices. According to the biography published by the Nobel Foundation, "It may well be said that Lorentz was regarded by all theoretical physicists as the world's leading spirit, who completed what was left unfinished by his predecessors and prepared t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adiabatic Invariants
A property of a physical system, such as the entropy of a gas, that stays approximately constant when changes occur slowly is called an adiabatic invariant. By this it is meant that if a system is varied between two end points, as the time for the variation between the end points is increased to infinity, the variation of an adiabatic invariant between the two end points goes to zero. In thermodynamics, an adiabatic process is a change that occurs without heat flow; it may be slow or fast. A reversible adiabatic process is an adiabatic process that occurs slowly compared to the time to reach equilibrium. In a reversible adiabatic process, the system is in equilibrium at all stages and the entropy is constant. In the 1st half of the 20th century the scientists that worked in quantum physics used the term "adiabatic" for reversible adiabatic processes and later for any gradually changing conditions which allow the system to adapt its configuration. The quantum mechanical definition is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Léon Lecornu
Léon Lecornu (13 January 1854, Caen – 13 November 1940, Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, Calvados) was a French engineer and physicist. After his secondary education at the Lycée de Caen, Léon Lecornu obtained his engineering degree from École Polytechnique in 1872. In 1893, he was appointed professor at the Faculté de Caen, then at l’ école des mines, and in 1900 at l’École polytechnique 1904. He was elected a member of l'Académie des sciences in 1910 (section de mécanique). He was the brother of Joseph Lecornu. Bibliography *''Cours de mécanique'', Paris, Gauthier-Villars, 1914–1918 *''Dynamique appliquée'', Paris, Doin, 1908 *''La mécanique, les idées et les faits'', Paris, Flammarion, 1918 *''Les régulateurs des machines à vapeur'', Paris, Dunod, 1904 *''Note sur le laboratoire aérodynamique Eiffel à Auteuil'', Paris, Gauthier-Villars, 1914 *''Sur la métallurgie du fer en basse-Normandie'', Caen, Le Blanc-Hardel, 1884 *''Sur l'équilibre des surfaces flexi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solvay Conference
The Solvay Conferences (french: Conseils Solvay) have been devoted to outstanding preeminent open problems in both physics and chemistry. They began with the historic invitation-only 1911 Solvay Conference on Physics, considered a turning point in the world of physics, and continue to the present day. Following the initial success of 1911, they have since been organised by the International Solvay Institutes for Physics and Chemistry, founded by the Belgian industrialist Ernest Solvay in 1912 and 1913, and located in Brussels. The institutes coordinate conferences, workshops, seminars, and colloquia. Recent Solvay Conferences usually go through a three year cycle: the Solvay Conference on Physics, followed by a gap year, followed by the Solvay Conference on Chemistry. Notable Solvay conferences First conference Hendrik Lorentz was chairman of the first Solvay Conference on Physics, held in Brussels from 30 October to 3 November 1911. The subject was ''Radiation and the Quan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Quantum Theory
The old quantum theory is a collection of results from the years 1900–1925 which predate modern quantum mechanics. The theory was never complete or self-consistent, but was rather a set of heuristic corrections to classical mechanics. The theory is now understood as the semi-classical approximation to modern quantum mechanics. The main and final accomplishments of the old quantum theory were the determination of the modern form of the periodic table by Edmund Stoner and the Pauli Exclusion Principle which were both premised on the Arnold Sommerfeld enhancements to the Bohr model of the atom. The main tool of the old quantum theory was the Bohr–Sommerfeld quantization condition, a procedure for selecting out certain states of a classical system as allowed states: the system can then only exist in one of the allowed states and not in any other state. History The old quantum theory was instigated by the 1900 work of Max Planck on the emission and absorption of light in a bla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory of relativity, but he also made important contributions to the development of the theory of quantum mechanics. Relativity and quantum mechanics are the two pillars of modern physics. His mass–energy equivalence formula , which arises from relativity theory, has been dubbed "the world's most famous equation". His work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect", a pivotal step in the development of quantum theory. His intellectual achievements and originality resulted in "Einstein" becoming synonymous with "genius". In 1905, a year sometimes described as his ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adiabatic Invariant
A property of a physical system, such as the entropy of a gas, that stays approximately constant when changes occur slowly is called an adiabatic invariant. By this it is meant that if a system is varied between two end points, as the time for the variation between the end points is increased to infinity, the variation of an adiabatic invariant between the two end points goes to zero. In thermodynamics, an adiabatic process is a change that occurs without heat flow; it may be slow or fast. A reversible adiabatic process is an adiabatic process that occurs slowly compared to the time to reach equilibrium. In a reversible adiabatic process, the system is in equilibrium at all stages and the entropy is constant. In the 1st half of the 20th century the scientists that worked in quantum physics used the term "adiabatic" for reversible adiabatic processes and later for any gradually changing conditions which allow the system to adapt its configuration. The quantum mechanical definition is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (; ) (19 October 1910 – 21 August 1995) was an Indian-American theoretical physicist who spent his professional life in the United States. He shared the 1983 Nobel Prize for Physics with William A. Fowler for "...theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars". His mathematical treatment of stellar evolution yielded many of the current theoretical models of the later evolutionary stages of massive stars and black holes. Many concepts, institutions, and inventions, including the Chandrasekhar limit and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, are named after him. Chandrasekhar worked on a wide variety of problems in physics during his lifetime, contributing to the contemporary understanding of stellar structure, white dwarfs, stellar dynamics, stochastic process, radiative transfer, the quantum theory of the hydrogen anion, hydrodynamic and hydromagnetic stability, turbulence, equilibrium and the stabi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Edensor Littlewood
John Edensor Littlewood (9 June 1885 – 6 September 1977) was a British mathematician. He worked on topics relating to analysis, number theory, and differential equations, and had lengthy collaborations with G. H. Hardy, Srinivasa Ramanujan and Mary Cartwright. Biography Littlewood was born on 9 June 1885 in Rochester, Kent, the eldest son of Edward Thornton Littlewood and Sylvia Maud (née Ackland). In 1892, his father accepted the headmastership of a school in Wynberg, Cape Town, in South Africa, taking his family there. Littlewood returned to Britain in 1900 to attend St Paul's School in London, studying under Francis Sowerby Macaulay, an influential algebraic geometer. In 1903, Littlewood entered the University of Cambridge, studying in Trinity College. He spent his first two years preparing for the Tripos examinations which qualify undergraduates for a bachelor's degree where he emerged in 1905 as Senior Wrangler bracketed with James Mercer (Mercer had already ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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