Is a Year-Long Quantum Chromodynamics Class Worth the Exam Stress?

[phys-man 69]

If I had to teach a class on a year-long Quantum Chromodynamics I would give an exam about everything they should know in physics on the first day of class worth half of the grade for the rest of the quarter. That way I’d know that these FOOLS would know their STUFF and not be wasting my time!
eb

 

[humanino]

Such a test should be mandatory practice in scientific curricula. I noticed my best teachers were using them. They would fill in missing gaps during about one tenth of the total time they were given to beef up our brains.

 

[neu]

I disagree, my highest grade in Uni was in particle physics, for which I got < 20% average on the coursework.

I get the impression other countries (USA, Germany, Japan) are very regimented in their teaching, i.e. lots of pop quizzes and lots of hours; I think in Britain we take a more relaxed approach.

I think a more interesting poll would be "what's your favourite Hadron".

 

[Proton Soup]

what is this thread about?

anyway, frequent testing seems to work on classes where huge amounts of useless facts must be learned. i found this out in Calc II, where we had a test every week. i suspect something like organic chemistry is similar.

worst average i ever had was in Communications, which was basically a lot of time-domain convolution. averaged 50% and that was the high score in the class.

i don't know squat about chromodynamics, so I'm sure it would be a mistake for me to sign up for the class.

 

[humanino]

i don't know squat about chromodynamics, so I'm sure it would be a mistake for me to sign up for the class.

A common requirement for QCD is Calc \aleph_0

 

[Proton Soup]

A common requirement for QCD is Calc \aleph_0

huh? i don't speak your hieroglyphics.

 

[slider142]

In quantum electrodynamics, we study fields mediated by photons. The particles mediated by these bosons have two types of charge: positive and negative, with the simple relation that like charges repel and unlike charges attract. Quantum chromodynamics deals with the interactions of fields mediated by gluons, but unlike electromagnetic fields, the particles that are pushed/pulled around by gluons have three types of charge, called colors, hence the name chromodynamics.
As for aleph null, the symbol \aleph_0, it is the cardinality (size) of the set of natural (counting) numbers. While that set does contain an infinite amount of elements, it is, in a sense, a smaller set than the set of real numbers, which are given by some authors the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, bet. The separation of these two infinities was first proven by Cantor using his now infamous (and oft abused ) diagonal argument.
Edit: Bosons came first!

 

[G01]

Leptons all the way man!

Quarks ssssssssuuuuuuuuuuuccccccccckkkkkk!

Let's go leptons! Who needs the strong interaction?! Not you!

(I feel like I should be tailgating...outside a particle accelerator?)

 

[Proton Soup]

As for aleph null, the symbol \aleph_0, it is the cardinality (size) of the set of natural (counting) numbers. While that set does contain an infinite amount of elements, it is, in a sense, a smaller set than the set of real numbers, which are given by some authors the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, bet. The separation of these two infinities was first proven by Cantor using his now infamous (and oft abused ) diagonal argument.

ah, ok, i read a biography on him once. another mathematician that went nuts and thought his proofs came to him via divine intervention.

 

[humanino]

Let's go leptons! Who needs the strong interaction?! Not you!

The mass-gap can earn you $1M. How about the electroweak sector ?

edit
If you tell me that the Higgs or alternative scenarios can earn you fame and eternal glory, I must say this is speculative, in contrast with strong hard evidences for cash

 

[arunma]

I like bosons better because I can put them all in one place, and they won't throw a hissy fit and start trying to occupy different quantum states.

On a sidenote, I wonder what would happen if you could get a ton of bosons in one place, and then spontaneously turn them into fermions. I once asked my nuclear physics professor this question, and he wasn't quite sure.

 

[neu]

On a sidenote, I wonder what would happen if you could get a ton of bosons in one place, and then spontaneously turn them into fermions. I once asked my nuclear physics professor this question, and he wasn't quite sure.

You'll get a nobel prize

 

[malawi_glenn]

quarks ftw!