Related papers: Student Conceptual Difficulties in Hydrodynamics
This text is intended as an introduction to magnetohydrodynamics in astrophysics, emphasizing a fast path to the elements essential for physical understanding. It assumes experience with concepts from fluid mechanics: the fluid equation of…
Hydrodynamics and quantum mechanics have many elements in common, as the density field and velocity fields are common variables that can be constructed in both descriptions. Starting with the Schroedinger equation and the Klein-Gordon for a…
Solutions to hydrodynamic equations, which are used for a vast variety of physical problems, are assumed to be specified by boundary conditions and initial conditions on the hydrodynamic variables only. Initial values of other variables are…
The experimental and theoretical status of the ``near perfect fluid'' at RHIC is discussed. While the hydrodynamic paradigm for understanding collisions at RHIC is well-established, there remain many important open questions to address in…
When education researchers describe newly developed curricular materials, they typically concentrate on the research base behind their design, and the efficacy of the final products, but do not highlight the initial stages of creating the…
While students may find spline interpolation quite digestible, based on their familiarity with continuity of a function and its derivatives, some of its inherent value may be missed when students only see it applied to standard data…
Many undergraduate students of engineering and the exact sciences have difficulty with their mathematics courses due to insufficient proficiency in what we in this paper have termed clear thinking. We believe that this lack of proficiency…
This article discussesl a few of the problems that arise in geophysical fluid dynamics and climate that are associated with the presence of moisture in the air, its condensation and release of latent heat. Our main focus is Earth's…
Biological systems are influenced by fluid mechanics at nearly all spatiotemporal scales. This broad relevance of fluid mechanics to biology has been increasingly appreciated by engineers and biologists alike, leading to continued expansion…
A common learning goal for modern physics instructors is for students to recognize a difference between the experimental uncertainty of classical physics and the fundamental uncertainty of quantum mechanics. Our studies suggest this…
Quantum fluid (or hydrodynamic) models provide an attractive alternative for the modeling and simulation of the electron dynamics in nano-scale objects. Compared to more standard approaches, such as density functional theory or phase-space…
We have been investigating the difficulties that students in upper-level undergraduate courses have in determining the probability distribution for measuring energy and position as a function of time when the initial wave function is…
We use the Survey of Thermodynamic Processes and First and Second Laws-Long (STPFaSL-Long), a research-based survey instrument with 78 items at the level of introductory physics, to investigate introductory and advanced students'…
We present a hydrodynamic theory describing pair diffusion in systems with periodic boundary conditions, thereby generalizing earlier work on self-diffusion [D\"unweg and Kremer, J. Chem. Phys. 1993, 99, 6983-6997; Yeh and Hummer, J. Phys.…
Equations are about more than computing physical quantities or constructing formal models; they are also about understanding. The conceptual systems physicists use to think about nature are made from many different resources, formal and…
The hydrodynamic equations for a crystals with interstitials, taking into account the dissipative processes of the viscosity, heat conduction and the interstitial diffusion are derived. To achieve that we use the phenomenological approach…
Recent discussions of RHIC data emphasized the exciting possibility that the matter produced in nucleus-nucleus collisions shows properties of a near-perfect fluid. Here, we aim at delineating the applicability of fluid dynamics, which is…
Undergraduate physics students are known to have difficulties with understanding mathematical tools, and with applying their knowledge of mathematics to physical contexts. Using survey statements based on student interviews and written…
The formal definition of limit is one mathematical idea that gives difficulties to most students. Therefore, it is necessary to provide engaging activity in order to construct the students' understanding about the definition. This study…
In this paper, we begin by reviewing a certain number of mathematical challenges posed by the modelling of collective dynamics and self-organization. Then, we focus on two specific problems, first, the derivation of fluid equations from…