Frontiers of Physics will launch students into an exploration of the groundbreaking discoveries in physics in the early 20th century that gave rise to modern physics and the scientific world we know today. This rigorous course will be structured around three breakthroughs:, quantum mechanics, particle physics, and Einstein's special and general theory of relativity. Tracing Einstein, students will mathematically prove concepts such as time dilation and the mass energy equivalence and discuss paradoxes such as the twin paradox and the barn-pole paradox. Diving into quantum mechanics, they'll investigate the historical experiments that shed light on this strange theory, solve Schrodinger's equation to see how quantum mechanics predicts tunneling, and learn about the Bohr-Einstein debates and their philosophical implications. Students will demonstrate their knowledge through a variety of assignments, which may include a complete scientific article on relativity, an experiment to confirm the wave nature of light, and a general-audience article on a topic in modern physics.
Session One
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Session Two
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Grade(s)
10-11
at the time of application
Scheduled Class Time*
08:00 AM - 11:00 AM (PDT)
Session One
04:00 PM - 07:00 PM (PDT)
Session Two
*The course will meet for two hours daily (Monday–Friday) for a live online class during this window of time. The third hour is used for online office hours. Students will be admitted to and attend just one course section and time. The exact course time and office hour schedule will be set closer to the start of the program. In addition to the live meeting times, students complete out-of-class learning assignments such as assigned readings, group work, pre-recorded online lectures, and more.
Prerequisite(s)
Completion of an algebra course, a physical science course, and exposure to basic trigonometry.