PROGRAM

Program: Physical Sciences

1 MECHANICS
• Kinematics. The reference system. Material point. Absolutely solid body. Displacement
and distance traveled. Displacement. Velocity. Acceleration. Tangential and normal
acceleration. Solid body. Angular velocity. The angular acceleration. The connection
between the linear and angular velocities and accelerations.
• Dynamics of a material point. Inertial frame of reference. Galileo's principle of relativity.
The Galilean Transformations. Newton's laws. Forms of interaction. Fundamental forces.
The law of gravity. Coulomb's Law. The Lorentz force. The forces of friction. Dry and liquid
friction. Static friction. Gravity and weight. Elastic force.
• Conservation laws. Kinetic energy. Work. Power. The work of centered forces. The full
mechanical energy of the particle.
• The relationship between potential energy and force. The equilibrium conditions of the
mechanical system with one degree of freedom. The potential well and potential barrier.
Finite and infinite motions. The kinetic energy of the particle’s system. The potential
energy of a system of particles in an external potential field. The potential energy of the
interaction of particles (in the case of central forces).
• Pulse of the system of particles. The Pulse Conservation Law. The center of mass. The
center of mass of the system.
• The dynamics of the bodies of the variable mass. Reactive motion. Meshchersky's
equation. Tsiolkovsky's formula.
• Angular momentum. Shoulder of pulse. Moment of power. Shoulder of strength.
• Non-inertial reference systems. The forces of inertia. The centrifugal force of inertia.
• Solid body mechanics. The center of mass of a rigid body movement. Moment of
momentum of a solid body rotating around a fixed axis. Moment of inertia. The Steiner
theorem.
• Mechanics of incompressible fluid. The lines and the flow tube. Continuity jet. The
Bernoulli equation. Moving of solid bodies in liquids. Added mass (virtual mass).
• Fundamentals of special theory of relativity. Fundamental experiments underlying the
theory of relativity. Einstein's principle of relativity. The principle of the constancy of the
speed of light.
• Relativistic Mechanics. The length of body in different frames of reference. The time
interval between events. Relativistic Dynamics. The relativistic expression for the energy
and momentum of a particle. The transformation of momentum and energy. The rest
energy. The relationship of mass and energy.

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• The general aspects of oscillations. Small oscillations. Harmonic oscillations. The

amplitude, frequency and phase of oscillations. The harmonic oscillation energy.
• Damping oscillations. Damping coefficient.
• Forced oscillations. Resonance. The resonance curves. The parametrical resonance.

2 THERMODYNAMICS AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS

• The atomic and molecular structure of matter. The characteristic values of masses and
sizes of molecules. Estimations of the number of molecules per unit volume and
intermolecular distances. The interaction energy of molecules as a function of distance
between them. The number of impacts of a molecule on a wall. The pressure of an ideal
gas on a wall. Internal energy. Work. Quantity of heat. The first law of thermodynamics.
• The experimental equation of the state of an ideal gas state. The Boltzmann constant.
The mean energy of the translational motion of molecules. Temperature and its physical
sense.
• The Van der Waals gas. Internal energy. The state equation.
• The Maxwellian distribution. The distribution function with respect to the velocity
components, and with respect to the velocity modulus.
• The Boltzmann distribution. The Boltzmann distribution of molecules in the Earth's
gravitation field. The barometric formula.
• Entropy and the second law of thermodynamics. The second law of thermodynamics.
The statistical interpretation of the second law of thermodynamics.
• The efficiency of the heat machine. The Carnot cycle. The Carnot circle efficiency. The
Carnot theorems.
• The crystal matter. A crystal cell. The physical types of crystal cells. The specific heat of
crystals. The Dulong-Petit law.
• The liquid matter. The surface tension. The free energy. The pressure in a capillary.
• Equilibrium between phases. Evaporation and condensation. Melting and
crystallization. The entropy increment under evaporation and condensation. The
Clapeyron-Clausius equation. The triple point.

3 ELECTRICITY
• Elementary charge. Law of electrical charge conservation. Point charge. Coulomb law.
System of units. Electrical field. Field strength. Field of point charge. The field
superposition principle. Work of electrostatic field forces. The potential energy of the
charge in the field. Potential.
• The Gauss theorem for E vector. Divergence of E. The volume, surface and linear charge
density. Field of one and two charged planes.

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• The equilibrium conditions the charge on the conductor. Field near the surface of a
conductor. The conductor in an external electric field. Electric capacity. Capacitors.
Capacity of a flat condenser.
• Electric current. Current strength and density. The continuity equation. Extraneous
forces. Electromotive force. Voltage. Ohm's law. The resistance of the conductors. The
specific heat capacity of the current (differential form of Joule –Lents’s law).
• A magnetic field. The interaction of currents. Oersted’s experiment. Magnetic induction.
The principle of superposition of magnetic fields. The magnetic field of a uniformly
moving charge. The Biot - Savart – Laplace law. Field of infinite direct current.
• The Lorentz force. Ampere's law. The force acting on the circuit in an inhomogeneous
field.
• The Gauss theorem for the vector B. The field of coil and of the toroid.
• The phenomenon of electromagnetic induction. The Lenz rule. Electromotive induction
strength. Total magnetic flux. The ballistic method for measuring magnetic induction.
• Eddy currents. The phenomenon of self-induction. Inductance. EMF of self-induction.
The inductance of the coil.
• The vortex electric field. Electromagnetic field. The displacement current. The total
current. Maxwell’s equations in differential form. Maxwell’s equations in integral form.

4 OPTICS AND WAVES

• Elastic waves. The definition of wave. Longitudinal and transverse waves. Waves on a
string. The wave equation. The wave equation’s solution. Classification of waves by the
phase front. Harmonic waves. A plane harmonic wave. The Doppler effect for sound
waves.
• Electromagnetic waves. The wave equation for an electromagnetic field in a
homogeneous, isotropic, neutral, non-conducting medium.
• Geometrical optics’ approximation. Light rays. The optical path. The Fermat's principle.
A centered optical system.
• The phenomenon of the interference of electromagnetic waves. The interference of two
plane harmonic waves. Fresnel's double mirror. Fresnel's biprism. Lloyd’s mirror.
Interference of light reflected from thin plates. Fringes of equal inclination. Fringes of
equal thickness. Newton's rings. Optical coating of lenses. The Michelson interferometer.
The Michelson-Morley experiment. The Fizeau experiment. Multibeam interference.
• Diffraction of light. The Huygens-Fresnel principle. Fresnel zones. Diffraction from a
round aperture and from a disk. The Fraunhofer diffraction from a slit. Diffraction grating.
The angular dispersion.
• Polarization of light. Natural and polarized light. Partly polarized light. Polarizers. The
degree of polarization. Polarization in reflection and refraction. Brewster's angle.

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• Dispersion of light.
• Absorption of light. Scattering of light Molecular scattering. The combination scattering
of light (the Raman effect).

5 ATOMIC AND NUCLEAR PHYSICS

• Thermal radiation. Stefan-Boltzmann law. Wien displacement law. Statistical average
energy of harmonic oscillator (classic and quantum expressions). Planck’s formula. The
Planck constant.
• Photons. Short-wavelength limit of the X-ray bremsstrahlung spectrum. Photo effect.
The Stoletov experiments.
• Nuclear model of atom. Atomic spectra. Alpha-particle scattering experiments.
Rutherford's formula. Nuclear model of atom. Bohr’s postulates.
• Wave properties of matter. De Broglie hypothesis. Experimental basis of quantum
mechanics.
• Orbital angular momentum quantum number. Spin. Electron spin. Summing angular
momenta. Total angular momentum of multielectron atom.
• Distribution of electrons over energy levels in atom. Pauli principle. Electron shells and
subshells. The Mendeleev periodic table.
• Magnetic moment of atom. Orbital and spin magnetic moments. Bohr magneton.
• Lasers. Spontaneous and induced radiation. The Einstein coefficients. Spectral line
width. Population inversion of energy levels.
• Energy bands in crystal. Quantum theory of free electrons in metal. Density of energy
states. The Fermi-Dirac distribution. Metals and semiconductors. Intrinsic and extrinsic
semiconductors. Electronic and hole conduction. Superconductivity. Work function.
• Thermal electron emission. Contact potential difference. Thermoelectrical phenomena.
• Basics of atomic nucleus physics. Content of atomic nucleus. Atomic number and mass
number. Isotopes. Atomic nucleus size. Mass and binding energy. Mass effect. Nuclear
shell model and droplet nuclear model. Radioactivity. Varieties of radioactive decay. Law
of radioactive decay.
• Basics of elementary particle physics. Varieties of interaction and classes of elementary
particles. Particles and antiparticles.

RECOMMENDED LITERATURE
1. Alessandro Bettini. A Course in Classical Physics 1—Mechanics, Springer International
Publishing, 2016. ISBN 978-3-319-29257-1
2. Alessandro Bettini. A Course in Classical Physics 2—Fluids and Thermodynamics,
Springer International Publishing, 2016. ISBN 978-3-319-30686-5

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3. Alessandro Bettini. A Course in Classical Physics 3 — Electromagnetism, Springer

International Publishing, 2016. ISBN 978-3-319-40871-2
4. Alessandro Bettini A Course in Classical Physics 4 - Waves and Light, Springer
International Publishing, 2016. ISBN 978-3-319-48329-0
5. Feynman, Richard P. Leighton, Robert B.; Sands, Matthew Exercises for the Feynman
Lectures on Physics, Basic Books, 2014. ISBN 9780465060719 / 0465060714
6. Hugh D. Young. University Physics with Modern Physics, 14th Edition, Pearson, 2016.
ISBN 978-0321973610