Course Description
This course is normally taken by physics majors in their sophomore year.
Major Topics Include
- Einstein's Postulates, and their Consequences for
- Simultaneity
- Time Dilation
- Length Contraction
- Clock Synchronization
- Lorentz Transformation
- Relativistic Effects and Paradoxes
- Minkowski Diagrams
- Relativistic Invariants and Four-Vectors
- Relativistic Momentum, Energy, and Mass
- Relativistic Particle Collisions
- Relativity and Electricity
- Coulomb's Law
- Magnetic Fields
- Introduction to Key Concepts of General Relativity
- Principle of Equivalence
- Cosmology
- Friedman-Robertson-Walker Metric
- Black Holes
- Schwarzchild Metric
- Gravitational Red Shift
- Particle and Light Trajectories
- Shapiro Delay
- Gravitational Lensing
Prerequisites
Physics I (8.01), Calculus II (18.02)
Texts
Resnick, Robert. Introduction to Special Relativity. New York, NY: Wiley, 1968.
French, A. P. Special Relativity. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Education Research Center: MIT Introductory Physics Series. New York, NY: Norton, 1968.
Taylor, Edwin F., and John A. Wheeler. Exploring Black Holes: Introduction to General Relativity. San Francisco, CA: Addison Wesley Longman, 2000. ISBN: 9780201384239.
Grading
ACTIVITIES | PERCENTAGES |
---|---|
Weekly Problem Sets (9 total) | 20% |
Quiz 1 (1 hour) | 20% |
Quiz 2 (1 hour) | 20% |
Final Exam | 40% |