> Physics

Professor Wentworth
Assistant Professor Enders

Physics is concerned with basic questions about the structure and behavior of the physical universe: The description and causes of motion, the nature of energy and energy changes in systems, the interactions between particles, the relationship between the macroscopic behavior of a system and its microscopic parts. It is both a foundation for understanding other sciences, such as astronomy, chemistry and biology, and a source of practical knowledge used by the engineering disciplines which promote technological advances.

Physics is often divided into subfields according to the type of system being studied: elementary particle physics, nuclear physics, atomic and molecular physics, and condensed matter physics. However, all of these subfields share common principles understood by all physicists.

Three groups of students are served by the Physics program: students needing a science course for the Doane Core Connections, science and preprofessional students in disciplines other than physics, and students majoring in physics. There are common goals for all of these students, although the level of achievement will differ between the groups. The common goals are to:

Develop a student’s ability to make observations about the physical world.
Develop a student’s ability to construct and test hypotheses about these observations.
Give students experience in quantitative problem solving in a physical context.
Help students become familiar with the fundamental laws of behavior for our universe as understood by contemporary science.

Programs

Major

Physics

Minor

Physics Minor

Courses

Astronomy

Physics