Basic Info

  • Instructor: Dave Feldman
  • Email:dfeldman@coa.edu
  • Pronouns: he/him/his
  • Problem Solving Sessions: TBA
  • Teaching Assistants:none

Course Goals

  1. Stay physically and mentally healthy and maintain intellectual and personal connection during a potentially difficult time.
  2. Experience the challenge, joy, and beauty of theoretical physics.
  3. Gain a firm, grounded, enduring understanding of the basic elements and structure of special relativity and quantum mechanics.
  4. Engage with the philosophical and ontological questions surrounding relativity and quantum mechanics. I hope you'll leave this course thinking somewhat differently about space/time, reality, determinism, and causality.
  5. I want to help you improve your basic facility with algebra and functions, your problem solving skills, your ability to create and interpret different types of graphs, and your overall mathematical confidence.
  6. Have fun while growing and learning.

Official Course Description

What are relativity and quantum mechanics, and why were they viewed as revolutionary when they were formulated in the early 1900s? How and why do relativity and quantum mechanics compel us to discard commonsense ideas about the nature of the physical world that are part of classical mechanics? Why is there not agreement on how to interpret quantum mechanics, and why does quantum mechanics even need interpretation? This version of Physics II covers Einstein's theory of special relativity and selected topics in quantum mechanics, and is designed to introduce students to some of the formalism and central results of relativity and quantum mechanics, so that they can formulate scientifically grounded answers to the above questions. Throughout the course we will start with first principles and carefully build toward key results, allowing students to see how relativity and quantum mechanics---two of the pillars of modern physics---were constructed and how they cohere as mathematically consistent and experimentally verified theories. The first half of the course will cover relativity topics including the principle of relativity, spacetime intervals and proper time, coordinate transformations, time dilation and Lorentz contraction, and relativistic energy and momentum. The second half of the course will turn toward the foundations of quantum mechanics, including: spin-1/2 particles, wave-particle duality, and Bell's inequalities and the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox. If time permits, we may cover additional topics such as blackbody radiation, the photoelectric effect, Bohr's model of the hydrogen atom, and quantum cryptography. To gain a sense of the scientific, social, and material context in which the theories of relativity and quantum mechanics were developed, we will read a number of papers and book chapters by historians and philosophers of science. This course is designed to appeal to a wide range of students: both those whose interests lie outside of science as well as those who are drawn toward the sciences or mathematics. Students who take this course should be comfortable working with mathematical abstraction. Evaluation is based on weekly problem sets, participation in weekly discussion sections, and several short reflection assignments.

Texts

There is nothing you'll need to buy.

  1. For the relativity part of the course I will follow the exposition in Thomas A. Moore, Six Ideas that Shaped Physics: Unit R: The Laws of Physics are Frame-Independent, McGraw Hill, 1998. You do not need to purchase the text.
  2. For the relativity portion of the course I will assign short videos to watch. These are videos I made when I taught the class entirely online in the spring of 2020.
  3. There will be numerous other readings and videos assigned throughout the course

Evaluation

Your evaluation will be loosely based on the following:

  • Weekly Homework Assignments: 70 percent.
  • Short Reflection Assignments: 20 percent.
  • Class Participation/Engagement: 10 percent.

In general, I recommend against grades; I believe they are more likely than not to interfere with genuine, reflective learning. This is especially true in this class, where I have found that many of the class activities really don't lend themselves to letter grading. I do not have any quota of A's, B's, etc.

Course Structure and Flow

  • I have taught the material in this course a handful of times, but never in this combination. I've done classes that were relativity with some electricity and magnetism, and I've done an entire class on quantum mechanics. This is my first time teaching relativity and quantum together in one course. I am confident that these two topics pair together well.
  • We will cover special relativity (SR) for approximately the first four weeks of the course and then will turn our attention to quantum mechanics (QM). While will definitely be consistent threads throughout, in some ways this course may feel like two separate courses. I think that's ok.
  • Some notes about math.
    • This class assumes that you have some level of comfort with basic algebra. QM and SR are areas of physics that defy common sense, so we'll need to lean pretty heavily on the mathematical formalism in some places. The math in most ways isn't harder than that of Physics I, but we'll rely on the math in a more fundamental way.
    • It is possible to do solid, grounded treatment of SR and QM without using math beyond algebra. However...
    • There is lots of fun and interesting math in QM and SR. I'll prepare a number of optional explorations for those who want to dig deeper into some of the mathematical underpinnings of QM and SR. I would strongly encourage those of you interested and/or experienced in math to give some of these explorations a try. I'm also happy to set up times outside of class to work through some more math-heavy material.
  • We will do a wide variety of things in the discussion sections: mostly discussion readings, but also we will do some exercises and explorations.

Some Details and Logistics

  1. This class fulfills both the ES and the QR requirements. At the same time.
  2. Homework will usually be due Fridays at the end of the day. If you need extra time on the assignments, that's fine, but please let me know.
  3. There will be two short reflection assignments for this class in addition to problem sets.

Homework!

  1. There will be a homework assignment due almost every Friday. It is essential that you do these assignments, as this is how one learns physics, and also this is most of what your evaluation will be based on.
  2. As discussed in this video there will be two parts to almost every homework assignment:
    1. Problems to be submitted on WeBWorK
    2. Problems to be submitted on "paper" (a scanned pdf) on google classroom
  3. WeBWorK is an online homework system. I use this system even when the world is not in a global pandemic. There are three reasons why I use WeBWorK:
    1. You get instant feedback while doing the work, so you can learn right away from your mistakes. You can submit solutions many times until you get everything correct.
    2. Some problems are randomized so that you will all get slightly different versions of the questions. This means that collaborating with other students will be maximally effective, since you'll have to share solution methods and not just the final answer.
    3. Since the problems are automatically marked, I can spend more time helping you and won't have to spend as much time grading.
  4. If you need extra time for one or two of the homework assignments, it's not a big deal. But be mindful to not fall farther behind every week.
  5. I expect the homework assignments to be productively challenging. The assignments will vary in length, difficulty, and style. I don't expect you to be able to complete the homework quickly in one sitting. Don't let yourself get frustrated. I strongly suggest working with others and seeking help if you need it.
  6. You are strongly encouraged to work together on homework. You can also consult me, class tutors, other faculty, friends, and family. However, the homework you hand in should represent your own understanding.
  7. As I plan on sending out homework assignments and other information via email classroom, it is important that you check your email regularly.
  8. You will want to have at your disposal a scientific calculator or phone/tablet app. I strongly suggest an actual calculator. You do not need a graphing calculator for this course (or, in my opinion, ever).

Help Sessions

I will have a handful of help sessions every week. You are warmly invited and encouraged to attend these sessions. Help sessions are relaxed, informal, and hopefully fun. Things that happen at help sessions:

  1. I am around to offer help on the homework.
  2. Some students do most of the homework while at a help session. They work through problems alone or with others, and find it comforting to know that help is immediately at hand if needed.
  3. Others do the problems at home and come to the help session with specific questions.
  4. Help sessions are also a chance to ask general questions about the course. Conversations also sometimes wander into other areas: politics, the state of the world, what's for dinner, what classes are offered next term, and so on.
  5. Help sessions are a great way to meet other students in the class.

Everyone is welcome at help sessions! Attending these sessions helps students do well in the class and get as much out of it as possible.

You should also feel free to reach out to me with questions. If you're stuck on a problem, it might help to take a photo of what you've done so far and include it in an email to us. We might be able to help you with a short email, or we could set up a time to meet, perhaps on zoom.

Also, you can summon help via email from within WeBWorK. If you do so, I get an email and a link to your version of the WeBWorK problem, and I can see all the answers you've submitted. Usually I can see what's going on and quickly offer some help. Sometimes it'll be an issue that doesn't lend itself to email, in which case we find a time to meet and go over it.

Electronic Distractions

As much as possible, I'd like to minimize the use of laptops, tablets, and phones during our class meetings. There is good evidence that these wonderful devices can harm the learning environment, even for those who are not using their own devices and are merely exposed to the devices of others. An excellent, reasoned discussion of this is Why I Just Asked My Students To Put Their Laptops Away by Clay Shirky. I highly recommend giving his essay a read.

There is no need to ban laptops entirely—that just seems silly to me. There may be times in class when we will do exercises that require computers, and there will also be moments when we might want to grab a device and look up the meaning of a word or a historical tidbit or something. So let's use common sense and keep devices holstered except when they're needed, at which point we should use them proudly and without apology.

Diversity and Inclusion

It is my intent that students from all backgrounds and perspectives be well served by this course, that students' learning needs be addressed both in and out of class, and that the diversity that students bring to this class be viewed as a resource, strength, and benefit. It is my intent to present materials and activities that are respectful of diversity: gender, sexuality, disability, age, religion, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, race, and culture.

Learning about diverse perspectives and identities is an ongoing process. I am always looking to learn more about power and privilege and the harmful effects of racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, and other forms of discrimination and oppression. Your suggestions are encouraged and appreciated. Please let me know ways to improve the effectiveness of the course for you personally, or for other students or student groups. If something was said or done in class (by anyone, including me) that made you feel uncomfortable, please talk to me about it. You can also reach out to Associate Deans Bonnie Tai or Jamie McKown.

Discussions

We will do a lot of different things during discussion section, including discussing readings. These discussions are chance for us to explore some of the philosophical, conceptual, historical, and social aspects of relativity and quantum mechanics. The readings we do will range widely in content, style, and difficulty. There are several goals and motivations I have for discussions:

  • The discussions are a chance to figure out some things together. We will be doing some readings that are sometimes difficult and subtle and, I hope, interesting. Working together we can solidify and deepen our understanding.
  • In some of the discussions it will be particularly valuable to hear a diversity of opinions. I expect there will be a range of reactions and responses to some of what we read, and I think that there is tremendous value to listening to and engaging with a diversity of thought.

Expectations for class discussions:

  • Prepare. Do the reading and think about it. Expect to spend an hour or two preparing, although obviously this will vary a lot from reading to reading. Take notes, write down questions, and prepare responses to any questions I might have posed.
  • If you can work with a hard copy of the reading. I think it is easier to engage with a text via a physical copy, and as much as possible I don't want us to have laptops open when we meet.
  • Be present. Listen to others, respond, and contribute your own ideas and questions.

We should all work to create an inviting atmosphere and ensure that there is opportunity for all to contribute. At the same time, there is no need for everybody to contribute equally. It is natural for some people to talk more than others, and I think this is normal and good. Also, I expect that students will engage and contribute at different levels, depending on prior coursework. I see this diversity of backgrounds as a strength and not a weakness; there are roles for everyone to play. Asking good questions is as important as providing answers.

Finally, it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway: the point of discussions is not to figure out who is right and who is wrong, but to help all of us get to a deeper, and not necessarily uniform, understanding.

Standard Disclaimers

  • You should expect to spend a minimum of 150 academically engaged hours associated with this one-credit course. These 150 hours will be spent roughly as follows: 4.5 hr/wk "in" class, 2 hr/wk reading, 8.5 hr/wk on homework.
  • By enrolling in an academic institution, a student is subscribing to common standards of academic honesty. Any cheating, plagiarism, falsifying or fabricating of data is a breach of such standards. A student must make it his or her responsibility to not use words or works of others without proper acknowledgment. Plagiarism is unacceptable and evidence of such activity is reported to the academic dean or his/her designee. Two violations of academic integrity are grounds for dismissal from the college. Students should request in-class discussions of such questions when complex issues of ethical scholarship arise.