There are all sorts of resonances around us, in the world, in our culture, and in our technology. A tidal resonance causes the 55 foot tides in the Bay of Fundy. Mechanical and acoustical resonances and their control are at the center of practically every musical instrument that ever existed. Even our voices and speech are based on controlling the resonances in our throat and mouth. Technology is also a heavy user of resonance. All clocks, radios, televisions, and gps navigating systems use electronic resonators at their very core. Doctors use magnetic resonance imaging or MRI to sense the resonances in atomic nuclei to map the insides of their patients. In spite of the great diversity of resonators, they all share many common properties. In this blog, we will delve into their various aspects. It is hoped that this will serve both the students and professionals who would like to understand more about resonators. I hope all will enjoy the animations.

For a list of all topics discussed, scroll down to the very bottom of the blog, or click here.

Origins of Newton's laws of motion

Non-mathematical introduction to relativity

Three types of waves: traveling waves, standing waves and rotating waves new

History of mechanical clocks with animations
Understanding a mechanical clock with animations
includes pendulum, balance wheel, and quartz clocks

Water waves, Fourier analysis

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Links and references

All postings by author

previous:
advantages of teaching Lorentz's view

up:
contents of relativity

next:
mathematics of relativity

Fig. 15. Global positioning system, GPS satellites are among the few objects larger than sub-atomic particles that can sense relativistic time dilation. While they travel at much less than the speed of light, they do travel very swiftly and have extremely accurate clocks on them.

Links and references

There are many, many sites on the web explaining relativity. Below I've listed the ones I happen to feel were particularly useful.

Wikipedia on luminiferous aether.
Wikipedia on the Michelson-Morley experiment.
Wikipedia on special relativity.
Book: A history of the theories of aether and electricity, vols I and II, Sir Edmund Whittaker, Dover Publications Inc, 1989 (orginally published by Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd London in 1951 and 1953).
Nice youtube animation of concepts from special relativity.
The Lorentz transformation, part of the Mechanical Universe series produced in Caltech a few decades ago. These are a very well done series on physics and go into considerable depth in both the history and mathematics. They use all sorts of interesting and entertaining video images. Video clips 41 and 43.
John S. Bell on the foundations of quantum mechanics. An article in this Google online book titled "How to teach special relativity" by J. S. Bell.
Selected excerpts of the above article by Bell.
A discussion of John Bell's article, listed above.
Carl Sagan explaining special relativity. His physics is correct, but I disagree with a lot of his philosophical musings. In any case, the video clip is nicely done, entertaining, and does show many of the relativistic effects applied to everyday human life.

Peter Ceperley, November 2010

All postings by author

previous:
advantages of teaching Lorentz's view

up:
contents of relativity

next:
mathematics of relativity

Amazon	new and used text books	iPods & MP3 players	cell phones & service
computers	flat-panel TV's	ear phones	movies

My favorite reference books on waves:

Waves, Berkeley Physics Course - vol. 3, Frank S. Crawford, Jr. McGraw-Hill 1965. This book is suitable for an add-on to an introductory course on college or university physics. It discusses all sorts of aspects of waves and has a multitude of home experiments. One could probably make a great science fair project from one of them. As to its math level, it mostly uses algebra, with some calculus in the mix.

Physics of waves, by Elmore and Heald, originally published by McGraw-Hill in 1969, but currently published by Dover. This book covers many different wave systems, such as waves on a string, on a membrane, in solids, in fluids, on a liquid surface, and electromagnetic waves. It also covers the many aspects of waves. It has an excellent chapter on diffraction.

The Feynman lectures on physics, Feynman, Leighton, and Sands, Addison-Wesley 1963. Three volumes. These cover many aspects of physics. They are perhaps best suited for someone who has made it through an introductory sequence in college or university physics, and wants to read about the subject from a more sophisticated point of view. They are not particularly math intensive, more just into discussing concepts with some math as required. These are books you read to understand a physicist's mind. Perhaps 10% to 20% of the chapters are about waves and resonances.

Electromagnetic books that I use:

Engineering Electromagnetics, Hayt (with Buck on more recent editions), McGraw-Hill. An easy to read, compact junior-level text for electrical engineering students.

Fields and waves in communication electronics, Ramo, Whinnery, Van Duzer, Wiley. A upper level/graduate level text for electrical engineering student. Covers practically every aspect of applied electromagnetic fields in some depth. Is not a book to sit down and read for philosophy, but rather to look up the rational behind certain devices or design methods.

Resonances, Waves, and Fields
Contents

Wave-centric interpretation of quantum mechanics
Three types of waves
Brunelleschis Dome - its structure and construction

Origins of Newton's laws of motion

Conformal mapping - solving Laplace's equation

Simple resonators, shock excitation
Resonators - continuous excitation

Clocks
- History of Mechanical Clocks with Animations:
- Understanding a mechanical clock with animations:
  includes pendulum, balance wheel and quartz clocks

Index for resonances, waves and fields

Album of 24 flash animations showing the physics of oscillations, waves, and phasors

The LRC circuit, the classical simple resonator: Marconi invents the wireless telegraph.

Use of complex numbers in oscillations and waves:
- Euler's formula and complex numbers: an introduction to and history of complex numbers.
- Details on infinite series.
- The technology of oscillations and waves demand new mathematical methods: a look at the mathematical difficulty of dealing with oscillations and waves.
- Phasors
- More on complex numbers: to prepare for using them for oscillations and waves.
- Complex phasors
- The algebra of complex phasors
- True waves
- Waves using complex phasors
- Types of waves
- Superposition and standing waves
- Complex phasor representation of a standing wave
- Reflection of waves as a process to make standing waves
Water Waves:

Fourier Analysis:
Special relativity
- Non-mathematical introduction to relativity - 9 part series
- - NEW - Mathematics of special relativity - 19 part series
Programming in swishMax and flash:
- Matrix manipulation routines for swishMax
- Ways to make Waves: programming and non-programming methods for animating waves in swishMax and flash.

The Author

Permitted use of material on this blog and how to download free animations from this site.

Index for resonances, waves and fields