Overview and Authoring Guidelines

The PICUP Collection of Exercise Sets

The fundamental unit of the PICUP collection of educational materials is the "Exercise Set". All Exercise Sets are peer-reviewed and adaptable for faculty use. Standard Exercise Sets use numerical approaches that can be adapted to multiple platforms and Specialized Exercise Sets take advantage of particular computational platforms.

Exercise Type Any
Course Level Any
Subject Any
Programming Language Any
more

9 Exercise Sets

Waves & Optics
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Frequency Extraction via Test Functions

First Year Experimental / Labs and Waves & Optics

Developed by Peter Bryant

Example Implementation: Spreadsheet

Laser Beam Profile

Beyond the First Year Waves & Optics

Developed by Ernest Behringer

Example Implementations: Python and Easy Java Simulations

Lattice Elasticity, the Vibrating String, and Nonlinearity

Beyond the First Year and Advanced Mathematical / Numerical Methods and Waves & Optics

Developed by Walter Freeman

Example Implementations: C/C++ and Easy Java Simulations

Rainbows

First Year and Beyond the First Year Waves & Optics

Developed by Ernest Behringer

Example Implementations: Python and Easy Java Simulations

Shadows (Ray Optics)

First Year and Beyond the First Year Waves & Optics

Developed by Ernest Behringer

Example Implementations: Python and Easy Java Simulations

Wave Interference (with sound!)

First Year Waves & Optics

Developed by Christopher Orban

Example Implementation: Javascript

Visualizing X-Ray Diffraction

First Year and Beyond the First Year Modern Physics, Waves & Optics, and Condensed Matter Physics

Developed by W. Brian Lane

Example Implementations: IPython/Jupyter Notebook and Python

Visualizing Effects of a Gravitational Wave with a Ring of Test Masses

Advanced Mathematical / Numerical Methods, Waves & Optics, and Astronomy

Developed by Deva O'Neil

Example Implementation: Glowscript

Exoplanets: Detection via Doppler Shift (Wobble method)

First Year and Beyond the First Year Modern Physics, Waves & Optics, Astronomy, and High Energy / Nuclear / Particle

Developed by Deva O'Neil

Example Implementation: Glowscript