Black Holes

Course home page

See also: Daily Schedule Term 3

Daily Schedule Term 2

Week 1 — Galilean Relativity — Invariance of the Interval

• Thursday, Aug. 29 — We did a calculus self-assessment — We went over the syllabus — You read pp. 1-15 of Chapter 1 of Spacetime Physics, 2nd Edition — Go to the excercises at the end of the Chapter and choose an exercise to work out and present (we chose to present 1-3 and 1-4) — Also read what Galileo’s character Salvatius has to say about Galilean relativity — I have written up and will talk you through my own introduction to speed, velocity, and Galilean Relativity which is less elegant than Galileo’s but uses the reliable crutch of Cartesian coordinate systems

Week 2 — Free-Float Frames — Time Dilation Illustrated in Muon and Pion Decay

• Monday, Sep. 2 — Read and be prepared to discuss Spacetime Physics to p. 30 — Problem Set 1 to be turned in at the beginning of Monday’s class is here — I played Chris Hadfield’s cover of David Bowie’s “A Space Oddity” as an important illustration of what it is like to be in a free-float frame — I proved Galilean Addition of Velocities which establishes the near impossibility that the speed of light could possibly be constant — And yet the speed of light is constant in any frame(!), and this follows easily from the invariance of the interval
• Thursday, Sep. 5 — Read and be prepared to discuss Spacetime Physics to the end of Chapter 2 (to p. 44) — I will use the first two terms of the Maclaurin series to present an important approximation method that you will be using a lot — Then two groups will present their detailed analyses of the falling railway coach — Here are the variables for analyzing the horizontal problem (Rania and Rebecca), and here are similar variables for analyzing the vertical problem (Walker, Will, and Eden) — Both groups should be seeking approximate expressions for d(t) where initially d(t)=d_I, and we are really only interested in what happens in a short time Δt — Problem Set 2 for Thursday

Week 3 — Time Dilation — The Relativity of Simultaneity — Length Contraction

• Monday, Sep. 9 — Read and be prepared to discuss Spacetime Physics to p. 65 — Problem Set 3 to be turned in at the beginning of Monday’s class is here — Maclaurin and Taylor series graphs — Theory behind the coefficients in the Maclaurin and Taylor Series — Overview of the three biggest consequences of special relativity: (1) Time Dilation, (2) Length Contraction, (3) The Relativity of Simultaneity — Derivation of the first effect: Time Dilation (Kel and Jeremy) — The γ factor notation — Invariance of the transverse dimension via the Rockets-with-Paintbrushes thought experiment — The Relativity of Simultaneity via Einstein's Lightning-Strikes-Train thought experiment
• Thursday, Sep. 12 — Read and be prepared to discuss Spacetime Physics to p. 77 (the end of Chapter 3) — Problem Set 4 to be turned in at the beginning of Thursday’s class is here — Derivation of Length Contraction by Sasha and Eli — Length contraction board photo — Rania's Length Contraction handout — The Pole-in-the-Barn Paradox — A Relativity of Simultaneity derivation using a variant of Einstein's Lightning-Strikes-Train thought experiment

Week 4 — Presentations of Interesting Problems — Start The Lorentz Transformation Formulas

• Monday, Sept. 16 — To give you time to consolidate the first three chapters, there is no new reading assignment due for Friday
• Thursday, Sept. 19 — Read Chapter L to p. 102, which is the derivation of the Lorentz Transformation formulas summarized in Eq. L-10a on p. 102

Week 5 — Finish The Lorentz Transformation Formulas — Exam 1

• Monday, Sept. 23 — Finish Chapter L — Problem Set 5, with due date delayed to the beginning of Monday’s class, is here
• Thursday, Sept. 26 — Exam 1

Week 6 — World-Lines of Accelerating Particles — The Light-Cone and Causality

• Monday, Sept. 30 — If you feel solid about Chapters 1, 2, 3, and L, there is not much new in Chapter 4 — If you feel you need to cement in some ideas with the twin paradox as the example then Chapter 4 is great — Everyone, whether feeling solid or not, should pay close attention to pp. 127-130 of Chapter 4 — Then continue studying through Section 5.5, p. 148, of Chapter 5 — Problem Set 6, due at the beginning of Monday’s class, is here and in your file folders along with tracing graph paper and a hyperbola template
• Thursday, Oct. 3 — Finish Studying Chapter 5 — Problem Set 7, due at the beginning of Thursday’s class, is here

Week 7 — More Presentations of Interesting Problems — Non-Relativistic Momentum and Energy — E=mc²

• Monday, Oct. 7 — Study all of Chapter 6 and also Sections 7.1 and 7.2 to p. 195 — Organize yourselves into three groups of three for presentations on three problems from Chapters, 5, 6, and 7, such as 5-7 (The Runner-on-The-Train Paradox), 6-6 (Relativistic Race-Walking), and 7-3 (The Kinetic Energy of a Freight Train) — Target 10 minutes plus 5 minutes for questions per presentation
• Thursday, Oct. 10 — You can continue studying Chapter 7 which is on relativistic momentum and energy — Worksheet I: The Runner-on-the-Train Paradox — Worksheet II: Relativistic Race-Walking — Worksheet III: E=mc² and the Energy to Raise a Freight Train a Mile High — Non-Relativistic Momentum and Energy

Continued on: Daily Schedule Term 3