PHYS 225 Fall 2025
PHYS 225 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Schedule
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Please note: readings are to be done prior to lecture on the day they are assigned!
| Week | Date | Lecture | Discussion | Homework and Readings |
Exam |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Monday
8/25/2025 |
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Tuesday
8/26/2025 |
Week 1, Lecture 1: Welcome and Introduction to Special Relativity |
Morin: 1.1-1.2, Appendix F 6.6.1-6.6.3 |
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Wednesday
8/27/2025 |
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Thursday
8/28/2025 |
HW 1 assigned | ||||
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Friday
8/29/2025 |
Discussion 1 (solutions) |
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| 2 |
Monday
9/1/2025 |
Labor Day Holiday | |||
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Tuesday
9/2/2025 |
Week 2, Lecture 2: The Three Fundamental Effects of Relativity |
Morin: 1.3-1.4 | |||
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Wednesday
9/3/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | ||||
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Thursday
9/4/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | HW 1 due (HW 1 solutions) HW 2 assigned |
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Friday
9/5/2025 |
Discussion 2 (solutions) |
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| 3 |
Monday
9/8/2025 |
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Tuesday
9/9/2025 |
Week 3, Lecture 3: Vectors, Matrices, and Linear Transformations |
(Shankar: 8.1) | |||
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Wednesday
9/10/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | ||||
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Thursday
9/11/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 |
HW 2 due |
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Friday
9/12/2025 |
Discussion 3 (solutions) |
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| 4 |
Monday
9/15/2025 |
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Tuesday
9/16/2025 |
Week 4, Lecture 4: Derivation of Lorentz Transformations |
Morin: 2.1.3, Appendix D |
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Wednesday
9/17/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | ||||
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Thursday
9/18/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | HW 3 due (HW 3 solutions) HW 4 assigned |
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Friday
9/19/2025 |
Discussion 4 (solutions) |
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| 5 |
Monday
9/22/2025 |
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Tuesday
9/23/2025 |
Week 5, Lecure 5: Matrix Multiplication and Taylor Series |
Morin: 2.2, Appendix G, (2.7) |
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Wednesday
9/24/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | ||||
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Thursday
9/25/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 |
HW 4 due |
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Friday
9/26/2025 |
Discussion 5 (solutions) |
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| 6 |
Monday
9/29/2025 |
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Tuesday
10/30/2025 |
Week 6, Lecture 6: Symmetries and Group Theory |
(Shankar: 8.2 - 8.4)
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Wednesday
10/1/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | ||||
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Thursday
10/2/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | HW 5 due (HW 5 solutions) HW 6 assigned |
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Friday
10/3/2025 |
Discussion 6 (solutions) |
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| 7 |
Monday
10/6/2025 |
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Tuesday
10/7/2025 |
Week 7, Lecture 7: Invariant Interval and Spacetime Metric |
Morin: 2.3-2.4 | |||
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Wednesday
10/8/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | ||||
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Thursday
10/9/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | HW 6 due (HW 6 solutions) HW 7 assigned |
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Friday
10/10/2025 |
Discussion 7 (solutions) |
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| 8 |
Monday
10/13/2025 |
HW 7 due |
Midterm Exam In-Lecture |
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Tuesday
10/14/2025 |
No Lecture -- Midterm Exam | ||||
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Wednesday
10/15/2025 |
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Thursday
10/16/2025 |
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Friday
10/17/2025 |
No discussion this week | ||||
| 9 |
Monday
10/20/2025 |
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Tuesday
10/21/2025 |
Week 9, Lecture 8: Relativistic Energy, Momentum, and Force; Separation of Variables in 1D |
Morin: 3.1, 3.5.1 (Shankar: 10.3) |
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Wednesday
10/22/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | ||||
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Thursday
10/23/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | HW 8 assigned Bonus assignment (due on day of final) |
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Friday
10/24/2025 |
Discussion 8 (solutions) |
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| 10 |
Monday
10/27/2025 |
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Tuesday
10/28/2025 |
Week 10, Lecture 9: Relativistic Force in 2D; Vector Fields, Curvilinear Coordinates, and Vector Differential Operators |
Morin 3.5.2 (Shankar: 7.1-7.3, 7.5-7.8) |
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Wednesday
10/29/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | ||||
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Thursday
10/30/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | HW 8 due (HW 8 solutions) HW 9 assigned |
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Friday
11/31/2025 |
Discussion 9 (solutions) |
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| 11 |
Monday
11/3/2025 |
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Tuesday
11/4/2025 |
Week 11, Lecture 10: 4-vector Manipulation, Doppler Effect |
Morin: 4.1-4.3, 2.5 | |||
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Wednesday
11/5/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | ||||
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Thursday
11/6/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | HW 9 due (HW 9 solutions) HW 10 assigned |
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Friday
11/7/2025 |
Discussion 10 (solutions) |
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| 12 |
Monday
11/10/2025 |
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Tuesday
11/11/2025 |
Week 12, Lecture 11: Relativistic Kinematics and Natural Units |
Morin: 3.3-3.4, 4.4 | |||
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Wednesday
11/12/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | ||||
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Thursday
11/13/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | HW 10 due (HW 10 solutions) HW 11 assigned |
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Friday
11/14/2025 |
Discussion 11 (solutions) |
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| 13 |
Monday
11/17/2025 |
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Tuesday
11/18/2025 |
Week 13, Lecture 12: Line and Surface Integrals, Stokes' Theorem, Differential Forms of Maxwell's Equations |
(Shankar: 7.4, 7.9, 7.11) Index notation review |
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Wednesday
11/19/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | ||||
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Thursday
11/20/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | HW 11 due (HW 11 solutions) HW 12 assigned |
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Friday
11/21/2025 |
Discussion 12 (solutions) |
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| 14 |
Monday
11/24/2025 |
Fall break, no class | |||
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Tuesday
11/25/2025 |
Fall break, no class | ||||
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Wednesday
11/26/2025 |
Fall break, no class | ||||
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Thursday
11/27/2025 |
Fall break, no class | ||||
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Friday
11/28/2025 |
Fall break, no class | ||||
| 15 |
Monday
12/1/2025 |
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Tuesday
12/2/2025 |
Week 15, Lecture 13: Complex Numbers and Fourier Transforms |
(Shankar: Ch. 5) | |||
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Wednesday
12/3/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | ||||
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Thursday
12/4/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | HW 12 due (HW 12 solutions) HW 13 assigned |
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Friday
12/5/2025 |
Discussion 13 (solutions) |
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| 16 |
Monday
12/8/2025 |
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Tuesday
12/9/2025 |
Week 16, Lecture 14: Wave Equation from Maxwell's Equations |
(Shankar: 7.11, Einstein 1905 paper) |
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Wednesday
12/10/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | HW 13 due (HW 13 solutions) (note Wednesday due date!) |
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Thursday
12/11/2025 |
Office Hours, 6 - 8 PM, Loomis 35 | ||||
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Friday
12/12/2025 |
Reading Day -- No discussion | ||||
| 17 |
Monday
12/15/2025 |
Final Exam |
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Tuesday
12/16/2025 |
Bonus assignment due Formula sheet Final practice problems |
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Wednesday
12/17/2025 |
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Thursday
12/18/2025 |
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Friday
12/19/2025 |
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