AtomTouch is a molecular simulation app, created through a partnership between UW MRSEC and Field Day Lab. It allows learners to explore principles of thermodynamics and molecular dynamics in a tactile, exploratory way. The simulation was developed to help students understand the structures and attributes of particles at the molecular level, providing real-time feedback and responding to students’ actions.

Study of physical effects in the vicinity of a black hole as the basis for understanding general relativity, astrophysics, and elements of cosmology. Extension to current developments in theory and observation. Energy and momentum in flat spacetime; the metric; curvature or spacetime near rotating and nonrotating centers of attraction; the Global Positioning System and its dependence on general relativity; trajectories and orbits of particles. Subject has online component and classroom lectures are replaced with online interactions: manipulation of visualization software, access to websites describing current research, electronic submission of homework, and structured online discussions between undergraduates and alumni and with instructors and graduate specialists in the topics covered.

In this video segment adapted from Shedding Light on Science, observe demonstrations of the fundamental idea that light travels in straight lines.

When do photons, electrons, and atoms behave like particles and when do they behave like waves? Watch waves spread out and interfere as they pass through a double slit, then get detected on a screen as tiny dots. Use quantum detectors to explore how measurements change the waves and the patterns they produce on the screen.

Students will diagram and identify a change of state. Students will describe the energy, spacing and speed of the particles before and after this change.

Based on a student activity where students danced around the room acting as particles, students will identify an incorrect action during the dance. They will explain why the action did not fit the particle model and how it could be corrected. See below for an idea this is based on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWQCUQ_UZiA

Student teams conduct an experiment that uses gold nanoparticles as sensors of chemical agents to determine which of four sports drinks has the most electrolytes. In this way, students are introduced to gold nanoparticles and their influence on particle or cluster size and fluorescence. They also learn about surface plasmon resonance phenomena and how it applies to gold nanoparticle technologies, which touches on the basics of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum, electrolyte chemistry and nanoscience. Using some basic chemistry and physics principles, students develop a conceptual understanding of how gold nanoparticles function. They also learn of important practical applications in biosensing.