Modern Physics. This final section interrogates the structure of atoms – peering past their vast electronic shells into their central cores, the incredibly dense nuclear regions. In that secret heart of atoms, the electrical repulsion of like charges is overwhelmed by mysterious nuclear forces, which act as an invisible hand causing random and spontaneous disintegration for radioactive substances. Conservation laws also guide the analysis of nuclear reactions such as fusion and fission, which humanity has exploited in times of peace but also in times of war. In H2 Physics, learners catch glimpses into a paradigm shift that famously rocked the foundations of physics – the quantum revolution. Waves are particle-like particles are wave-like; nature at its smallest scales does not behave in accordance with a deterministic classical clockwork conception, requiring a new framework to harmonise both particle-like and wave-like properties into a coherent theory expressed in terms of probability, complex numbers, and linear algebra. In H3 Physics, learners are challenged with yet another paradigm shift – the theory of relativity that questioned accepted wisdom about the absolute nature of space and time. Space and time do not exist independently of each other, and the relative motion of observers distorts their assignments of space and time coordinates. Simultaneity is not as obvious as we naïvely expect because of the universal limiting speed of light.

1. Symmetry 2.Integrability 3. Duality 4. Enormous advances in physics and some of these advances have brought into question, or have directly contradicted, certain theories that call for new knowledge to be created

1. QUVIS: https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/physics/quvis/  
2. PhET: http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/category/physics/quantum-phenomena 
3. Physlet Quantum Physics: http://www.compadre.org/pqp/ 
4. Quantum Lab: http://www.didaktik.physik.uni-erlangen.de/quantumlab/english/index.html .
5. Spins Physics: http://www.physics.orst.edu/~mcintyre/ph425/spins/index_SPINS_OSP.html, http://www.compadre.org/osp/items/detail.cfm?ID=7329 
6. Falstad Quantum: http://www.falstad.com/mathphysics.html .
7. Quantum Mechanics: http://www.embd.be/quantummechanics/default.html 
8. Excited States and Photons: http://concord.org/stem-resources/excited-states-and-photons 
9. “Quantum Made Simple”, http://toutestquantique.fr/en/ 
10. Open Source Physics Quantum Magnetism simulation, http://www.compadre.org/osp/items/detail.cfm?ID=12308. 
11. https://www.hbarra.es/ Jose Ignacio Fernández Palo

Topic 19: Quantum Physics

Topic 20: Nuclear Physics