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Physics Camp Outreach

We are back in 2025! After three successful summer programs in 2022-2024 (20+ students from 12 high schools participated each year and gave overwhelmingly positive feedback), we will run the program again in 2025. In a series of lectures on quantum physics, Oakland University Professor Evgeniy Khain will discuss revolutionary ideas in physics that were developed in the beginning of the 20th century. We will focus on the Nobel Prize-winning research of five scientists, including the work of Einstein, Rutherford, and Bohr. How do objects absorb and emit light, and what are the mysteries of the structure of the atom? These intriguing questions will be answered both theoretically and in lab demonstrations. Additionally, OU physics faculty will present their scientific research and discuss possible research opportunities for high school students in the coming academic year.

  • Dates and time: weekdays 1 pm – 4 pm, June 23 – July 3, 2025.
  • $200 registration fee. Need-based scholarships are available.
  • Open to rising juniors, rising seniors and graduating seniors who received an A or B in AP Calculus or in an equivalent IB math class. Knowledge of AP Physics is a plus.

Registration

Schedule

Physics College Experience Summer Mini-Program
Introduction to Quantum Physics and Research Opportunities
June 18 – June 28, 2024 (no classes June 22-23), 1–4 p.m.
Oakland University — Hannah Hall, room 220

Tuesday, June 18

  • Welcome: Opening remarks by Associate Dean Prof. Fabia Battistuzzi. Introduction to Summer Mini-Program.
  • Quantum Physics, lecture 1: Electric forces and electric fields. J. J. Thomson: discovery of the electron and the first model of an atom (1906 Nobel Prize in Physics). E. Rutherford (1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry) and his scattering experiments (1909-1911). Random walk (experiment with coins) and why Thomson’s model is wrong.
  • Research seminar and lab tour: Alexey Tonyushkin, Imaging research.

Wednesday, June 19

  • Quantum Physics, lecture 2: Rutherford model: nucleus and orbiting electrons. Charged particles moving with acceleration emit radiation (light). What is light? Wave properties of light and double-slit experiment.
  • Demonstration: Rao Bidthanapally, Multi-slit experiment.
  • Research seminar: Evgeniy Khain, Statistical physics and cell migration.

Thursday, June 20

  • Quantum Physics, lecture 3a: Photoelectric effect and its theoretical explanation by Einstein in 1905 (1921 Nobel Prize in Physics).
  • Demonstration: Rao Bidthanapally, Photoelectric effect.
  • Quantum Physics, lecture 3b: How light is emitted in Rutherford’s atom, the model is wrong again. Discrete atomic spectrum. N. Bohr’s revolutionary ideas (1913) in quantum physics (1922 Nobel Prize in Physics).
  • College career path 1: Tali Khain, University of Michigan alum and Physics Ph.D. student at the University of Chicago.

Friday, June 21

  • Quantum Physics, lecture 4a: More on atomic spectra.
  • Demonstration: Rao Bidthanapally, Measuring the emission spectrum of helium.
  • Quantum Physics, lecture 4b: Bohr’s model. The correspondence principle: quantum or classical?
  • College career path 2: Daniel Khain, Michigan alum and software engineer at Amazon (zoom talk).

Monday, June 24

  • Quantum Physics, lecture 5: Wave-particle duality of … particles! L. de Broglie and wave nature of electrons (1929 Nobel Prize in Physics). Double-slit experiment with electrons. Wave function. Bohr’s model is wrong! A few words on hydrogen atom.
  • Research seminar: Evgeniy Khain, Spread of epidemic on networks.

Tuesday, June 25

  • Quantum Physics, lecture 6: Thermal (blackbody) radiation: how hot objects emit energy. Experimental observations. Ultraviolet catastrophe. How quantum physics helps. Planck’s calculations.

Wednesday, June 26

  • Quantum Physics, lecture 7: Thermal (blackbody) radiation. Verifying Wien’s law (1911 Nobel Prize in Physics). Stefan-Boltzmann law and how physicists compute integrals.
  • Research seminar: Vasyl Tyberkevych, Quantum computing.

Thursday, June 27

  • Quiz: Topics in quantum physics.
  • Research seminar and lab tour: Yuejian Wang, High-pressure physics

Friday, June 28

  • Research seminar: Alberto Rojo, Physics in everyday life.
  • Program wrap-up: Overview of physics classes at OU, certificates, pizza.

Department of Physics

Mathematics and Science Center, Room 190
146 Library Drive
Rochester, MI 48309
(location map)
(248) 370-3416
Fax: (248) 370-3408


Department Chair:
Professor Andrei Slavin

Society of Physics Students:
Office: 288 Hannah Hall (HH)

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