Transition state theory and the dynamics of hard disks

The dynamics of two and five disk systems confined in a square has been studied using molecular dynamics simulations and compared with the predictions of transition state theory. We determine the partition functions Z and Z^\ddagger of transition state theory using a procedure first used by Salsburg and Wood for the pressure. Our simulations show this procedure and transition state theory are in excellent agreement with the simulations. A generalization of the transition state theory to the case of a large number of disks N is made and shown to be in full agreement with simulations of disks moving in a narrow channel. The same procedure for hard spheres in three dimensions leads to the Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann formula for their alpha relaxation time.Comment: 1 new author, new simulations and figures, less speculation. Now 6 pages, 6 figures, 1 animation. Animation may be viewed at http://www.theory.physics.manchester.ac.uk/~godfrey/supplement/activated_dynamics2.htm

SplashKit: A Development Framework for Motivating and Engaging Students in Introductory Programming

Learning to program is known to be challenging for many students. Upon entry, students often have poor perceptions of their capabilities with some anxiety around the challenges they expect to face in learning to code. Lowering the barriers to entry will help ease students into programming and enable a broader range of student to continue programming. SplashKit is an educationally focused development framework designed to aid the teaching of programming by empowering students to create interesting and dynamic programs from their first programming tasks. This paper explores how SplashKit can be used in tertiary education to underpin a range of introductory programming approaches