PHYS 225 Fall 2026
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
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Tuesday
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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
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Thursday
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HW 1 assigned | ||||
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Friday
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Discussion 1 (solutions) |
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| 2 |
Monday
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Tuesday
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Week 2, Lecture 2: The Three Fundamental Effects of Relativity |
Morin: 1.3-1.4 | |||
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Wednesday
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Office Hours 4 - 7 pm Loomis 276 | ||||
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Thursday
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Office Hours 5 - 7 pm Loomis 279 | HW 1 due (HW 1 solutions) HW 2 assigned |
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Friday
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Discussion 2 (solutions) |
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| 3 |
Monday
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Labor Day -- no classes | |||
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Tuesday
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Week 3, Lecture 3: Vectors, Matrices, and Linear Transformations |
(Shankar: 8.1)
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Wednesday
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Office Hours 4 - 7 pm Loomis 276 | ||||
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Thursday
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Office Hours 5 - 7 pm Loomis 279 |
HW 2 due |
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Friday
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Discussion 3 (solutions) |
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| 4 |
Monday
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Tuesday
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Week 4, Lecture 4: Matrix Multiplication and Taylor Series |
Morin: 2.2, Appendix G, (2.7) |
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Wednesday
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Office Hours 4 - 7 pm | ||||
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Thursday
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Office Hours 5 - 7 pm | HW 3 due (HW 3 solutions) HW 4 assigned |
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Friday
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Discussion 4 (solutions) |
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| 5 |
Monday
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Tuesday
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Week 5, Lecture 5: Derivation of Lorentz Transformations |
Morin: 2.1.3, Appendix D |
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Wednesday
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Office Hours 4 - 7 pm | ||||
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Thursday
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Office Hours 5 - 7 pm |
HW 4 due |
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Friday
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Discussion 5 (solutions) |
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| 6 |
Monday
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Tuesday
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Week 6, Lecture 6: Symmetries and Group Theory |
(Shankar: 8.2 - 8.4)
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Wednesday
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Office Hours 4 - 7 pm | ||||
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Thursday
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Office Hours 5 - 7 pm | HW 5 due (HW 5 solutions) HW 6 assigned |
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Friday
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Discussion 6 (solutions) |
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| 7 |
Monday
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Tuesday
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Week 7, Lecture 7: Invariant Interval and Spacetime Metric |
Morin: 2.3-2.4 | |||
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Wednesday
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Office Hours 4 - 7 pm | ||||
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Thursday
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Office Hours 5 - 7 pm | HW 6 due (HW 6 solutions) HW 7 assigned |
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Friday
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Discussion 7 (solutions) |
Rapidity | |||
| 8 |
Monday
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HW 7 due |
Midterm Exam In-Lecture |
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Tuesday
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No Lecture -- Midterm Exam | ||||
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Wednesday
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Thursday
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Friday
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No discussion this week | ||||
| 9 |
Monday
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Tuesday
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Week 9, Lecture 8: Relativistic Energy, Momentum, and Force |
Morin: 3.1, 3.5.1
(Shankar: 10.3) |
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Wednesday
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Office Hours 4 - 7 pm | ||||
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Thursday
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Office Hours 5 - 7 pm | HW 8 assigned | |||
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Friday
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Discussion 8 (solutions) |
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| 10 |
Monday
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Tuesday
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Week 10, Lecture 9:
4-vector Manipulation, Doppler Effect |
Morin: 3.3-3.4, 4.4 |
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Wednesday
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Office Hours 4 - 7 pm | ||||
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Thursday
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Office Hours 5 - 7 pm | HW 8 due (HW 8 solutions) HW 9 assigned |
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Friday
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Discussion 9 (solutions) |
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| 11 |
Monday
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Tuesday
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Week 11, Lecture 10: Relativistic Kinematics and Natural Units |
Morin: 4.1-4.3, 2.5 |
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Wednesday
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Office Hours 4 - 7 pm | ||||
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Thursday
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Office Hours 5 - 7 pm | HW 9 due (HW 9 solutions) HW 10 assigned |
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Friday
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Discussion 10 (solutions) |
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| 12 |
Monday
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Tuesday
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Week 12, Lecture 11: Vector Fields, Curvilinear Coordinates, and Vector Differential Operators |
Morin 3.5.2 |
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Wednesday
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Office Hours 4 - 7 pm | ||||
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Thursday
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Office Hours 5 - 7 pm | HW 10 due (HW 10 solutions) HW 11 assigned |
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Friday
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Discussion 11 (solutions) |
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| 13 |
Monday
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Tuesday
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Week 13, Lecture 12: Line and Surface Integrals, Stokes' Theorem, Differential Forms of Maxwell's Equations |
(Shankar: 7.4, 7.9, |
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Wednesday
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Office Hours 4 - 7 pm | ||||
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Thursday
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Office Hours 5 - 7 pm | HW 11 due (HW 11 solutions) HW 12 assigned |
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Friday
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Discussion 12 (solutions) |
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| 14 |
Monday
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Fall break | |||
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Tuesday
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Fall break | ||||
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Wednesday
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Fall break | ||||
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Thursday
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Fall break | ||||
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Friday
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Fall break | ||||
| 15 |
Monday
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Tuesday
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Week 15, Lecture 13: Complex Numbers and Fourier Transforms |
(Shankar: Ch. 5) | |||
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Wednesday
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Office Hours 4 - 7 pm | ||||
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Thursday
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Office Hours 5 - 7 pm | HW 12 due (HW 12 solutions) HW 13 assigned |
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Friday
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Discussion 13 (solutions) |
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| 16 |
Monday
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Tuesday
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Week 16, Lecture 14: Wave Equation from Maxwell's Equations |
(Shankar: 7.11, Einstein 1905 paper) |
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Wednesday
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Office Hours 4 - 7 pm | HW 13 due (HW 13 solutions) (note Wednesday due date!) |
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Thursday
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Reading Day -- no classes
Office Hours 4 - 7 pm, Loomis 147
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Friday
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No discussion -- final exam period begins
Study sessions during your usual
discussion time in Loomis 139
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| 17 |
Monday
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Final Exam |
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Tuesday
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Final Exam -- date, time and rooms TBA
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Wednesday
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Thursday
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Friday
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