Online courses directory (273)

Projectile motion, mechanics and electricity and magnetism.

Each term, the class selects a new set of professional journal articles on bioengineering topics of current research interest. Some papers are chosen because of particular content, others are selected because they illustrate important points of methodology. Each week, one student leads the discussion, evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, and importance of each paper. Subject may be repeated for credit a maximum of four terms. Letter grade given in the last term applies to all accumulated units of 16.459.

5.73 covers fundamental concepts of quantum mechanics: wave properties, uncertainty principles, Schrödinger equation, and operator and matrix methods. Basic applications of the following are discussed: one-dimensional potentials (harmonic oscillator), three-dimensional centrosymmetric potentials (hydrogen atom), and angular momentum and spin. The course also examines approximation methods: variational principle and perturbation theory.

In this course, students explore the engineering design of nuclear power plants using the basic principles of reactor physics, thermodynamics, fluid flow and heat transfer. Topics include reactor designs, thermal analysis of nuclear fuel, reactor coolant flow and heat transfer, power conversion cycles, nuclear safety, and reactor dynamic behavior.

The course begins with the basics of compressible fluid dynamics, including governing equations, thermodynamic context and characteristic parameters. The next large block of lectures covers quasi-one-dimensional flow, followed by a discussion of disturbances and unsteady flows. The second half of the course comprises gas dynamic discontinuities, including shock waves and detonations, and concludes with another large block dealing with two-dimensional flows, both linear and non-linear.

The fundamental concepts, and approaches of aerospace engineering, are highlighted through lectures on aeronautics, astronautics, and design. Active learning aerospace modules make use of information technology. Student teams are immersed in a hands-on, lighter-than-air (LTA) vehicle design project, where they design, build, and fly radio-controlled LTA vehicles. The connections between theory and practice are realized in the design exercises. Required design reviews precede the LTA race competition. The performance, weight, and principal characteristics of the LTA vehicles are estimated and illustrated using physics, mathematics, and chemistry known to freshmen, the emphasis being on the application of this knowledge to aerospace engineering and design rather than on exposure to new science and mathematics.

The basic objective of Unified Engineering is to give a solid understanding of the fundamental disciplines of aerospace engineering, as well as their interrelationships and applications. These disciplines are Materials and Structures (M); Computers and Programming (C); Fluid Mechanics (F); Thermodynamics (T); Propulsion (P); and Signals and Systems (S). In choosing to teach these subjects in a unified manner, the instructors seek to explain the common intellectual threads in these disciplines, as well as their combined application to solve engineering Systems Problems (SP). Throughout the year, the instructors emphasize the connections among the disciplines.

This Stanford Continuing Studies course is the second of a six-quarter sequence of classes exploring the essential theor

This freshman-level course is the second semester of introductory physics. The focus is on electricity and magnetism. The subject is taught using the TEAL (Technology Enabled Active Learning) format which utilizes small group interaction and current technology. The TEAL/Studio Project at MIT is a new approach to physics education designed to help students develop much better intuition about, and conceptual models of, physical phenomena.

Staff List

Acknowledgements

The TEAL project is supported by The Alex and Brit d'Arbeloff Fund for Excellence in MIT Education, MIT iCampus, the Davis Educational Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Class of 1960 Endowment for Innovation in Education, the Class of 1951 Fund for Excellence in Education, the Class of 1955 Fund for Excellence in Teaching, and the Helena Foundation. Many people have contributed to the development of the course materials. (PDF)

This course explores elements of nuclear physics for engineering students. It covers basic properties of the nucleus and nuclear radiations; quantum mechanical calculations of deuteron bound-state wave function and energy; n-p scattering cross section; transition probability per unit time and barrier transmission probability. It also covers binding energy and nuclear stability; interactions of charged particles, neutrons, and gamma rays with matter; radioactive decays; and energetics and general cross section behavior in nuclear reactions.

This course introduces students to a quantitative approach to studying the problems of physiological adaptation in altered environments, especially microgravity and partial gravity environments. The course curriculum starts with an Introduction and Selected Topics, which provides background information on the physiological problems associated with human space flight, as well as reviewing terminology and key engineering concepts. Then curriculum modules on Bone Mechanics, Muscle Mechanics, Musculoskeletal Dynamics and Control, and the Cardiovascular System are presented. These modules start out with qualitative and biological information regarding the system and its adaptation, and progresses to a quantitative endpoint in which engineering methods are used to analyze specific problems and countermeasures. Additional course curriculum focuses on interdisciplinary topics, suggestions include extravehicular activity and life support. The final module consists of student term project work.

In 6.635, topics covered include: special relativity, electrodynamics of moving media, waves in dispersive media, microstrip integrated circuits, quantum optics, remote sensing, radiative transfer theory, scattering by rough surfaces, effective permittivities, random media, Green's functions for planarly layered media, integral equations in electromagnetics, method of moments, time domain method of moments, EM waves in periodic structures: photonic crystals and negative refraction.