Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Rise To Power Of Senator Joseph R. Mccarthy: Reflections Of The Cold War Mccarthy Era In American Film, Scott Lainer

Honors Theses

The common bond between much of the film industry and Joseph McCarthy was insecurity and the drive for national approval. If one grasps the specific characteristics of McCarthy the man, and the methods of these politically "inspired" movies, we can to better place the period into context and acknowledge the fact that, if the citizenry is not aware, and is again caught by an ever-building wave of trickle down sentiment, the 1950s might not prove to be an isolated period in American history. Insecurity was not a fifties novelty. It still exists, and could potentially escalate anti-Communist policy and sentiment …

Geodesic Orbits About An Axisymmetric Mass Distribution, David J. Dean

Honors Theses

The General Theory of Relativity (GRT) gives rise to many interesting questions, one of which is a question about how test particles orbit various relativistic mass configurations. A test particle is defined as an electrically neutral particle small enough that its self gravitating energy, as calculated using standard Newtonian theory, can be neglected when compared with the particle's rest mass, ie. M/R << 1. (Here M is the mass of the particle in meters, and R is the radius of the particle again in meters. The mass of the sun in these units is 1.47 km.) For example, the earth, which can be considered a test particle for the sun, travels about the sun in an elliptic orbit. What would happen if the sun suddenly became a black-hole? How would the earth's orbit be affected? It is the purpose of this paper to answer these questions not only for the case of the spherical black-hole (which has been extensively studied), but also for the case of an axisymmetric mass distribution idealized by a long thin rod-like mass (which will henceforth be referred to as a line mass). The classical case and relativistic case concerning orbits about the line mass will be discussed, along with some interesting features of the relativistic line mass orbits. Some background information concerning GRT will be needed before the problem of line mass is approached.

Theories On Planetary Motions, Jerry Thomason

Honors Theses

Anyone who has gazed into the starry sky with awe and amazement has often wondered what holds things together, where space ends and if there is no end, what wonders are beyond. The planets that are contained in this solar system and the growth of theories of the causes of the motions of these bodies are just some of the many wonders that a person can research.

In this work, I have intended to trace more or less a history of man's theories that govern the motions of the planets. I must admit that I will not cover by far …

Radar Meteorology, Jerry Thomason

Honors Theses

Radar, an acronym for RAdio Detection And Ranging, has been a great aide to the growth of the knowledge of science, especially for uses in weather research.

The discovery of the nature of radar is thought to have been made by Dr. A. H. Taylor and Leo C. Young of the Naval Research Laboratory when they found that radio waves would bounce back from steel. The military perfected radar for its benefits and gradually improved its technique of usage during the years of World War II. The British had its own version of radar and it is believed that its …

Antimatter, Claudia Morgan Griffin

Honors Theses

Very little is known about the mysterious world of antimatter. The idea that such particles could exist was not even proposed until forty years ago. Perhaps the story of the discovery of antimatter began when scientists were trying to unify the Theory of Relativity and the Theory of Quanta. The trouble was that the quantities in the classical wave equation are in the second derivatives. In Schrodinger's wave equation of the Quantum Theory, x, y, and z are second derivatives, but i is a first derivative.

Following Einstein's basic ideas, H. Minkowski proposed the concept of a four-dimensional time-space continuum …

Introduction To Astrophysics And Study Of Cosmic-Ray Collisions And Scanning, David L. C. Lau

Honors Theses

The discovery of tremendous amounts of energy from the Atomic Explosion (ex: first Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima) was not something new. For billions of years, atoms have been splitting with the release of such energy whenever stars are shining. We know that the atomic energy is being released from the sun and stars, and that this process has been going on for unthinkable years. However, the sun's atomic energy has been under control constantly, and its release of radiation (dynamic force) has supplied the constant supply of light and heat best suited for the well-being of mankind.

There are times, …