Question

This phenomenon can be mathematically modeled with a standard 1D Wiener process. For 10 points each:
[10e] Name this random type of motion whose namesake first observed it when looking at pollen grains in water.
ANSWER: Brownian motion [prompt on random walk]
[10m] Brownian motion can be modeled with the Langevin equation, which sets the force on a particle equal to a term that models this phenomenon plus a noise term. This phenomenon is “critical” when the Q factor is one half.
ANSWER: damping [accept critical damping; reject “dampening”]
[10h] This scientist’s 1906 model of Brownian motion is the basis for an equation that he co-names with a German physicist, which relates the diffusion coefficient, mobility, and temperature. He was also the first to prove that the Brownian ratchet was not a perpetual motion machine.
ANSWER: Marian Smoluchowski (“smoh-loo-KOFF-skee”) [accept Einstein–Smoluchowski equation]
<Physics>

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Summary

Data

Penn State BLehigh A100010