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Midterm exam, in-class portion Preparatory questions |
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| Verbiage | The in-class portion of the midterm exam will be given
on Friday, March 2, and will cover material up through Wednesday, February
28. The following questions should give you an idea of the sort of
questions. Each question should be answered in one paragraph of 5
to 8 sentences, preferably no more and certainly no less. In framing your
answers you should aim at two things: to give a coherent and well-argued
answer to the specific question, and to include enough detail (e.g., names
of major figures, time location by quarter-century or so) to demonstrate
your knowledge. On the exam you will be given a good choice of questions
from which to select the ones you want to answer. Obviously, the
topics of these preparatory questions will not limit the topics on the
exam.
Some of the questions are judgment calls: they can be answered in more than one way. What matters is that you make a good argument. As you will see, the questions are mostly aimed at fairly broad issues. Technical details will find a place in some of them, but not in all, and the technical details will always be in the service of bigger themes. Please remember to bring a blue book. |
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| Sample questions | 1. Explain Maxwell's demon and its consequences, as Maxwell
saw them, for the second law of thermodynamics.
2. What was the importance of the Imperial Physical-Technical Institute in Berlin (the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt, or PTR) for the history of physics? Consider both institutional and intellectual significance. 3. What was the goal of the electromagnetic world picture at the end of the nineteenth century? What challenge did it represent to the mechanical explanation of all phenomena, and where did it fit into the overall framework of physics at the end of the century? 4. What is Naturphilosophie? Explain its significance, if any, for the history of physics. Is this significance (or lack thereof) surprising? |
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| Copyright © Cathryn Carson 2001 |