HPS 0410 Einstein for Everyone Spring 2015

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Schedule

Week Lecture Date Recitation Date Lecture Topic Assignment Due Test
     
1 Mon. Jan. 5 Introduction: the questions.
Mon. Jan. 5
Tues. Jan. 6
0. Warm Up Exercise
(No submission, not for credit)
Wed. Jan. 7 Special Relativity: the Principles
Special Relativity: Clocks and Rods
2 Mon. Jan. 12   Special relativity: adding velocities.
Relativity of simultaneity
Mon Jan. 12
Tues. Jan. 13
1. Principle of relativity.
Wed. Jan. 14 Is special relativity paradoxical?
3 NO CLASS Mon. Jan.19. Martin Luther King Day Submitting assignments due on Monday  
Tues. Jan. 20   2. Relativity of Simultaneity
Wed. Jan. 21 E=mc2  
4 Mon. Jan. 26 Origins of special relativity
Einstein's Pathway to Special Relativity
Mon. Jan. 26
Tues. Jan. 27
3. E=mc2
Wed. Jan. 28 Spacetime
Spacetime and the Relativity of Simultaneity
Test 1
What is it on?
Grades
5 Mon. Feb. 2 Spacetime and the Relativity of Simultaneity
Spacetime, Tachyons, Twins and Clocks
Mon. Feb. 2
Tues. Feb. 3
4. Origins of Special Relativity
Wed. Feb. 4 Skeptical Morals.
Morals About Theory and Evidence.
 
6 Mon. Feb. 9 Morals About Theory and Evidence.
Morals About Time.
Mon. Feb. 9
Tues. Feb. 10
5. Spacetime
Wed. Feb. 11 Euclidean Geometry: The First Great Science
Euclid's Fifth Postulate
Non-Euclidean Geometry: A Sample Construction
Non-Euclidean Geometry and Curved Spaces
Test 2
What is it on?
Grades
7 Mon. Feb. 16 Spaces of Constant Curvature
Spaces of Variable Curvature
Mon. Feb. 16
Tues. Feb. 17
6. Philosophical Significance
Wed. Feb. 18 General relativity  
8 Mon. Feb. 23 General relativity
Gravity Near a Massive Body
Mon. Feb. 23
Tues.Feb. 24
7. Curvature
Wed. Feb. 25 Einstein's Pathway to General Relativity Test 3
What is it on?
Grades
9 Mon. Mar. 2 Relativistic cosmology
Mon. Mar. 2
Tues. Mar. 3
8. General Relativity
Wed. Mar. 4 Relativistic cosmology
Time Travel Universes
 
SPRING BREAK
10 Mon. Mar. 16 Our Universe: What We See
Big bang cosmology
Mon. Mar. 16
Tues. Mar. 17
9. Relativistic Cosmology
Wed. Mar. 18 Big bang cosmology
Must There Have Been a Big Bang?
Black holes
Test 4
What is it on?
Grades
11 Mon. Mar. 23 Black holes
Mon. Mar. 23
Tues. Mar. 24

Term paper topic submitted
10. Big Bang Cosmology
Wed. Mar. 25 A Better Picture of Black Holes  
12 Mon. Mar. 30 A Better Picture of Black Holes
Mon. Mar. 30
Tues. Mar. 31
11. Black Holes
Wed. Apr. 1 Origins of Quantum Theory Test 5
What is it on?
Grades
13 Mon. Apr. 6 Origins of Quantum Theory
Mon. Apr. 6
Tues. Apr. 7

12. Origins of Quantum Theory
Wed. Apr. 8 Quantum Theory of Waves and Particles
14 Mon. Apr. 13 The Measurement Problem
Mon. Apr. 13
Tues. Apr.14
13. Problems of Quantum Theory
Wed. Apr. 15 Term paper due Einstein on the Completeness of Quantum Theory Test 6
What is it on?
Grades

Test 1. Wednesday January 28. The test will be in the first 15 minutes of class and will consist of 3-4 questions requiring answers of a few sentences each. The material examinable is the content of the chapters "Special relativity: the basics," "Special relativity: adding velocities," "Relativity of simultaneity," "Is special relativity paradoxical?" "E=mc2" and the assignments 1,2 and 3.

Test 2. Wednesday February 11. The material examinable is the content of the chapters "Origins of Special Relativity," "Einstein's Pathway to Special Relativity," the three "Spacetime" chapters and the assignments 4 and 5.

Test 3. Wednesday February 25. The material examinable is the content of the chapters: "Philosophical Significance of Relativity," the non-Euclidean geometry chapters; the two chapters on curvature; and the assignments 6 and 7.

Test 4. Wednesday March 18. The material examinable is the content of the chapters "General Relativity," "Gravity Near a Massive Body," "Einstein's Pathway to General Relativity," "Relativistic Cosmology," "Time Travel Universes" and the assignments 8 and 9.

Test 5. Wednesday April 1. The material examinable is the content of the chapters "Our Universe: What We See, " "Big Bang Cosmology," "Must There Have Been a Big Bang?" "Black Holes," "A Better Picture of Black Holes" and the assignments 10 and 11.

Test 6. Wednesday April 15. The material examinable is the content of the chapters "Origins of Quantum Theory," "Quantum Theory of Waves and Particles," "The Measurement Problem" and the assignments 12 and 13.