week 01
-
Pre-class:
- Optional: Watch: Homework Logistics
In-class content
- Topics: Introductions, Axioms and Community Agreement, Reference Frame, Principle of Relativity
- In case you're curious, here is an article in which Federico Ardila-Mantilla discusses the community agreement he uses in his classes. Todxs cuentan: building community and welcoming humanity from the first day of class. (See section 5 on page 4.)
- Handout: Axioms, Goals, etc
-
Pre-class:
- There is no reading for this week.
In-class content:
- Handshake paradox activity
- Handouts: [Large Numbers]
-
Pre-class:
- Watch: Deriving the Galilean Relativity Equations. [10:10]
- Watch: Galilean Transformation Example. [7:29] You could skip this if you feel you don't need to watch an example.
- Two quizzes (not graded or anything) to check your understanding: [Quiz One] [Quiz Two]
- Watch: Galilean Velocity Transformations. [3:35]
- Watch: Galilean Velocity Transformation Example. [3:32] You can skip this is you feel you don't need to watch an example.
- A quiz to check your understanding of velocity transformations
In-class content
- Handout: [SR Units and Spacetime Diagrams]
- Here are some videos that cover much of what we did in class:
- SR Units and Light-Seconds [7:15]
- SR Units for Velocity [7:23]
- Introduction to Maxwell's Equations [6:45]
- The Ether and the Speed of Light [8:40]
- Einstein Rejects Galilean Relativity [5:45]
- Introduction to Spacetime Diagrams [7:04]
-
- Homework 01, due Friday, April 1.
Week 02
-
Pre-class:
- None
In-class content
- Handout: [Different Types of Time]
- Here are some videos that cover much of what we did in class:
-
Pre-class:
- None
In-class content
- Handout: [Muons and Proper Time]
- A documentary about the Frisch/Smith muon experiment
- Here are some videos that cover much of what we did in
class:
- Muons Part I: Half lives [8:59]
- Quiz: Muons and Half Lives
- Muons Part II: Experimental Evidence for the Metric Equation [14:20]
- Curved Paths in Space: Part I [8:44]
- Curved Paths in Space: Part II [10:39]
- Curved Paths in Space: Example [4:26]
- Proper Time: Part I [11:51]
- Proper Time: Part I [7:44]
- Proper Time Example [9:10]
-
- Homework 02, due Friday, April 8.
week 03
-
Pre-class:
- None
In-class content
- Handout: [Proper time and the binomial approximation]
- Here are some videos that cover much of what we did in
class:
- Proper Time Example [9:10]
- Quiz 1: Proper Time
- Quiz Solution [5:01]
- The Binomial Approximation [10:32]
- Quiz 2: Using the Binomial Approximation
- Quiz Solution [9:48]
- Relations among Δt, Δs, and Δτ: Part I [4:44]
- Figure: [png] [pdf]
- Relations among Δt, Δs, and Δτ: Part II [9:40]
-
Pre-class:
- Read: "Subversive Einstein," Susan Neiman, in Holton, Gerald James, Peter L. Galison, and Silvan S. Schweber. Einstein for the 21st century: His legacy in science, art, and modern culture. Princeton University Press, 2008, pp. 59-71.
- Read: Einstein and Nazi physics: When science meets ideology and prejudice, Mètode Science Studies Journal, 10(2020):147-155 by Philip Ball.
- Read: Was Albert Einstein a Racist?, Prospect, June 19, 2018, by Peter Dreier.
- OPTIONAL: Read: "Who was Einstein? Why is he still so Alive," Gerald Holton, in Holton, Gerald James, Peter L. Galison, and Silvan S. Schweber. Einstein for the 21st century: His legacy in science, art, and modern culture. Princeton University Press, 2008, pp. 3-14.
In-class content:
- Handouts: [tba]
-
Pre-class:
- None
In-class content
- Handout: [Two-observer spacetime diagrams]
- Hyperbolic Graph Paper!
- Here are some videos that cover much of what we did in
class:
- Twin Paradox: Part I [8:43]
- Twin Paradox: Part 2 [8:54]
- Two-observer Diagrams in Space [13:59]
- Quiz: Circles and Hyperbolas
- Constructing the Time Axis: Part 0 [5:30]
- Constructing the Time Axis: Part 1 [10:10]
- Constructing the Time Axis: Part 2 [10:47]
- Quiz: Constructing the Time Axis
- Solution to Quiz [5:01]
- Constructing the Space Axis: Part 1 [9:24]
- Constructing the Space Axis: Part 2 [7:08]
- Reading a Two-Observer Spacetime Diagram [11:07] [jpg of diagram]
-
- Homework 03, due Friday, April 15.
Week 04
-
Pre-class:
- None
In-class content
- Handout: [Two-observer spacetime diagrams and the Lorentz transformations ]
- Hyperbolic Graph Paper!
- Here are some videos that cover much of what we did in class:
-
Pre-class:
- Read: Einstein's Clocks: The Place of Time by Peter Galison, Critical Inquiry, 26:2, pp 355-389, 2000.
- Optional video: Peter Galison on Einstein, a mini-lecture by Galison on Einstein.
- Optional: Einstein, Poincare, and Modernity: a Conversation, by Peter Galison and D. Graham Burnett, Daedalus, Spring 2003.
In-class content:
- Handouts: None
-
Pre-class:
- None
In-class content
- Handout: [Lorentz contraction ]
- Here are some videos that cover much of what we did in
class:
- Introduction and A Definition of Length [2:54]
- Lorentz Contraction Derivation [13:10]
- Quiz: Lorentz Contraction
- Quiz Solution [5:56]
- Lorentz Contraction is Symmetric: Part I [7:17]
- Lorentz Contraction is Symmetric: Part I [13:04]
- Lorentz Contraction? WTF. Part I [9:47]
- Lorentz Contraction? WTF. Part II [5:54]
- Barn and Pole Paradox. Part I [4:18]
- Barn and Pole Paradox. Part II [18:09]
-
- Homework 04, due Friday, April 22.
Week 05
-
Pre-class:
- None
In-class content
- Handout: [Struture of Spacetime and Velocity Transformations]
- Here are some videos that cover much of what we did in
class:
- Introduction and Causality [11:06]
- Types of Spacetime Intervals: Introduction [4:56]
- Types of Spacetime Intervals: Timelike [8:18]
- Types of Spacetime Intervals: Spacelike [9:15]
- Types of Spacetime Intervals: Lightlike and Summary [3:49]
- Quiz: Types of Spacetime Intervals
- The Past, The Future, and Elsewhere [6:50]
- Quiz: The Past, The Future, and Elsewhere
- Velocity Transformations: Graphical [10:43]
- Quiz: Graphical Velocity Transformations
- The Einstein Velocity Transformation Equations [10:09]
- Quiz: Using the Velocity Transoformation Equations
- Analyzing the Velocity Transformation Equations [8:06]
-
Pre-class:
- Read: Feynman, Harassment, and the Culture of Science, by Aida Behmard, caltech letters, October 2019. CW: This article contains discussion of sexual harassment and mentions sexual assault.
- Watch: A fresh perspective for physics, an interview with Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
- Read: Surely You're a Creep, Mr. Feynman: On toxic moral license and the mythos of male scientific genius, by Leila McNeill, The Baffler, January 2019. CW: This article discussion sexual harassement and briefly mentions intimate partner violence.
- Optionally listen to: An interview by Leila McNeill with Chanda Prescod-Weinstein.
- Optionally read: Taking responsibility: the ethics of being Black in physics by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Physics World, October 2020.
In-class content:
- Handouts: None
-
Pre-class:
- None
In-class content
- Handouts: None
- Video of Class
- We covered the material from Chapters 2, 3, and 4 from The Strange World of Quantum Mechanics by Dan Styer, (Cambridge University Press, 2000).
-
- Homework 05, due Friday, April 29.
-
- Reflection 01 , Target Date: Friday, April 29.
week 06
-
Pre-class:
- None
In-class content
- Handouts: [Summary of Stern-Gerlach experiments] [Ket Practice]
- Video of Class
-
Pre-class:
- Read: Chapter 1 and 2 of Peter Godfrey Smith, Theory and reality: an introduction to the philosophy of science. University of Chicago Press. (2003).
- This week's reading is a little longer than usual. Here
are some thougths on how to prioritize your attention.
- Chapter Two is about positivism and empiricism. These approaches to science and episemology are important since they form the basis of the Copenhagen interpretation, the standard interpretation of quantum mechanics, which we will be learning about soon.
- Chapter One is an introduction to the book. In this chapter the author lays out some general thoughts on the nature(s) of science and some key questions in the philosophy of science. He also gives a short synopsis of the Scientific Revolution.
- Chapter two is the most important in terms of what we'll learn about later in the course. Chapter one I think is useful background that (most of) you will find interesting. If you are pressed for time, it's fine to skip section 1.5, the historical interlude about the Scientific Revolution.
- Here are some goals for our discussion:
- Get a good sense of logical positivism. What are its key assumptions or propositions?
- Grapple with logical positivism. Do what extent do you think the ideas of logical positivism are still with us? What aspects of it do you find interesting or appealing? What aspects give you pause?
- Discuss other questions that arise in the course of doing the reading, including thinking about different definitions of science. (I don't want to start with this, since this is less important for the course and we might end up spending a lot of time talking around in circles.)
- Aim to spend between one and two hours on this reading. Please do not spend more than two hours on the reading (unless you really want to).
In-class content:
- Handouts: None
-
Pre-class:
- None
In-class content
- Handouts: [More Ket Practice]
- Video of Class
-
- Homework 06, due Friday, May 6.
Week 07
-
Pre-class:
- None
In-class content
- Handouts: [Tilting Analyzers, Bell's Inequality]
- We covered chapter 4, 5, and 6 of Styer's textbook, The Strange World of Quantum Mechanics.
- Is the Moon there when Nobody Looks? Reality and the Quantum Theory, Physics Today, April 1985, by N. David Mermin. This is the paper that laid out the version of Bell's Inequality that Styer described in his book and which we went over in class.
- Video of Class
-
Pre-class:
- Read section 3.2 from Jim Baggott, The Meaning of Quantum Theory, Oxford University Press, 1992.
- Optionally, if you want another (perhaps simpler and more quantum-focused) synopsis of the positivism of the early 1920s, read section 3.1. This is pages 75-81.
- Here are some goals for our discussion:
- The main thing to focus on is the Copenhagen interpretation, which is the standard interpretation of quantum mechanics.
- We can also discuss the EPR paradox and Bell's inequalities, which we'll have covered in class on Monday. I suspect there'll be a lot to talk about and ponder.
- I think you should find this reading shorter and more accessible than last week's reading.
In-class content:
- Handouts: None
-
Pre-class:
- None
In-class content
-
- Homework 07, due Friday, May 13.
Week 08
-
Pre-class:
- None
In-class content
- Handouts: [Stuff about Waves] [Blackbody Radiation] [Blackbody and Wave Exercises]
- Videos of class: [Part A: Waves] [Part B: Blackbody Radiation]
-
Pre-class:
- Read "A Revolution with no Revolutionaries: The Planck-Einstein Equation for the Energy of a Quantum," by Graham Farmelo. This is an essay from It Must be Beautiful: Great Equations of Modern Science, edited by Graham Farmelo (Granta, 2003).
- I think you will find this reading fairly accessible and engaging.
In-class content:
- Handouts: None
-
- Homework 08, due Friday, May 20.
-
Pre-class:
- None
In-class content
- Handouts: [Photoelectric Effect] [deBroglie Waves] [deBroglie Exercises]
- Video of Class
Week 09
-
Pre-class:
- None
In-class content
- Handouts: [More de Broglie Exercises] [Letters/Numbers] [Vigenere Square] [Intro to Cryptography]
- Video of Class
- Vigenere Cipher, a video by Satish C J. This video might be helpful for those who missed class, and/or folks who want to see a worked example of encoding and decoding using the Vigenere square.
-
Pre-class:
- Read . This is an essay from It Must be Beautiful: Great Equations of Modern Science, edited by Graham Farmelo (Granta, 2003).
- I think you will find this reading fairly accessible and engaging.
In-class content:
- Handouts: None
-
Pre-class:
- None
In-class content
-
- Homework 09, due Friday, May 27.
Week 10
-
Pre-class:
- None
In-class content
- Handouts: [RSA Cryptography]
- RSA Encryption Algorithm: Computing an Example by the amazing Eddie Woo.
- RSA Encryption Algorithm: How it Works by the amazing Eddie Woo
- Public Key Encryption: RSA Encryption Algorithm by Art of the Problem
- Video of Class/li>
-
Pre-class:
- Watch: Einstein's Riddle, a BBC documentary
- Optionally watch: The Many Worlds of the Quantum Multiverse by PBS Digital Studios
In-class content:
- Handouts: None
-
- Reflection 02, Target Date: Friday, June 3.
-
- Homework 10, due Friday, June 3.