PHYS 225 Spring 2025
PHYS 225 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Schedule
If you have any issues logging in to view any of the secured documents below, please try adding "uofi\" (without the quotes) in front of your netid.
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
1/20/2025 |
||||
|
Tuesday
1/21/2025 |
Week 1, Lecture 1: Welcome and Introduction to Special Relativity |
Morin: 1.1-1.2 (1.1.2 optional), Appendix F 6.6.1-6.6.3 |
|||
|
Wednesday
1/22/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 5:00 pm, Loomis 144 | ||||
|
Thursday
1/23/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 4:00 pm, MSEB 305 | HW 1 assigned (HW 1 solutions) |
|||
|
Friday
1/24/2025 |
Discussion 1 (solutions) |
||||
| 2 |
Monday
1/27/2025 |
||||
|
Tuesday
1/28/2025 |
Week 2, Lecture 2: The Three Fundamental Effects of Relativity |
Morin: 1.3-1.4 | |||
|
Wednesday
1/29/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 5:00 pm, Loomis 144 | ||||
|
Thursday
1/30/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 4:00 pm, MSEB 305 | HW 1 due HW 2 assigned (HW 2 solutions) |
|||
|
Friday
1/31/2025 |
Discussion 2 (solutions) |
||||
| 3 |
Monday
2/3/2025 |
||||
|
Tuesday
2/4/2025 |
Week 3, Lecture 3: Vectors, Matrices, and Index Notation |
(Shankar: 8.1) | |||
|
Wednesday
2/5/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 5:00 pm, Loomis 144 | ||||
|
Thursday
2/6/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 4:00 pm, MSEB 305 |
HW 2 due |
|||
|
Friday
2/7/2025 |
Discussion 3 (solutions) |
||||
| 4 |
Monday
2/10/2025 |
||||
|
Tuesday
2/11/2025 |
Week 4, Lecture 4: Derivation of Lorentz Transformations |
Morin: 2.1.3, Appendix D |
|||
|
Wednesday
2/12/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 5:00 pm, Loomis 144 | ||||
|
Thursday
2/13/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 4:00 pm, MSEB 305 | HW 3 due HW 4 assigned (HW 4 solutions) |
|||
|
Friday
2/14/2025 |
Discussion 4 (solutions) |
||||
| 5 |
Monday
2/17/2025 |
||||
|
Tuesday
2/18/2025 |
Week 5, Lecure 5: Matrix Multiplication and Taylor Series |
Morin: 2.2, Appendix G, (2.7) |
|||
|
Wednesday
2/19/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 5:00 pm, Loomis 144 | ||||
|
Thursday
2/20/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 4:00 pm, MSEB 305 |
HW 4 due |
|||
|
Friday
2/21/2025 |
Discussion 5 (solutions) |
||||
| 6 |
Monday
2/24/2025 |
||||
|
Tuesday
2/25/2025 |
Week 6, Lecture 6: Symmetries and Group Theory |
(Shankar: 8.2 - 8.4) | |||
|
Wednesday
2/26/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 5:00 pm, Loomis 144 | ||||
|
Thursday
2/27/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 4:00 pm, MSEB 305 | HW 5 due HW 6 assigned (HW 6 solutions) |
|||
|
Friday
2/28/2025 |
|||||
| 7 |
Monday
3/3/2025 |
||||
|
Tuesday
3/4/2025 |
Week 7, Lecture 7: Invariant Interval and Spacetime Metric |
Morin: 2.3-2.4 | |||
|
Wednesday
3/5/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 5:00 pm, Loomis 144 | ||||
|
Thursday
3/6/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 4:00 pm, MSEB 305 | HW 6 due HW 7 assigned (HW 7 solutions) |
|||
|
Friday
3/7/2025 |
Discussion 7 (solutions) |
||||
| 8 |
Monday
3/10/2025 |
HW 7 due (note Monday due date!) |
Midterm Exam |
||
|
Tuesday
3/11/2025 |
Review & Q/A optional lecture | Practice midterm (solutions) |
|||
|
Wednesday
3/12/2025 |
? | ||||
|
Thursday
3/13/2025 |
? | ||||
|
Friday
3/14/2025 |
No discussion this week | ||||
| 9 |
Monday
3/17/2025 |
Spring break, no class | |||
|
Tuesday
3/18/2025 |
Spring break, no class | ||||
|
Wednesday
3/19/2025 |
Spring break, no class | ||||
|
Thursday
3/20/2025 |
Spring break, no class | ||||
|
Friday
3/21/2025 |
Spring break, no class | ||||
| 10 |
Monday
3/24/2025 |
||||
|
Tuesday
3/25/2025 |
Week 10, Lecture 8: Relativistic Energy, Momentum, and Force; Separation of Variables in 1D |
Morin: 3.1, 3.5.1 (Shankar: 10.3) |
|||
|
Wednesday
3/26/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 5:00 pm, Loomis 144 | ||||
|
Thursday
3/27/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 4:00 pm, MSEB 305 | HW 8 assigned (HW 8 solutions) Bonus assignment (due on day of final) |
|||
|
Friday
3/28/2025 |
Discussion 8 (solutions) |
||||
| 11 |
Monday
3/31/2025 |
||||
| Tuesday 4/1/2025 |
Week 11, 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) |
|||
|
Wednesday
4/2/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 5:00 pm, Loomis 144 | ||||
|
Thursday
4/3/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 4:00 pm, MSEB 305 | HW 8 due HW 9 assigned (HW 9 solutions) |
|||
|
Friday
4/4/2025 |
Discussion 9 (solutions) |
||||
| 12 |
Monday
4/7/2025 |
||||
|
Tuesday
4/8/2025 |
Week 12, Lecture 10: 4-vector Manipulation, Doppler Effect |
Morin: 4.1-4.3, 2.5 | |||
|
Wednesday
4/9/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 5:00 pm, Loomis 144 | ||||
|
Thursday
4/10/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 4:00 pm, MSEB 305 | HW 9 due HW 10 assigned (HW 10 solutions) |
|||
|
Friday
4/11/2025 |
Discussion 10 (solutions) |
||||
| 13 |
Monday
4/14/2025 |
||||
|
Tuesday
4/15/2025 |
Week 13, Lecture 11: Relativistic Kinematics and Natural Units |
Morin: 3.3-3.4, 4.4 | |||
|
Wednesday
4/16/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 5:00 pm, Loomis 144 | ||||
|
Thursday
4/17/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 4:00 pm, MSEB 305 | HW 10 due HW 11 assigned (HW 11 solutions) |
|||
|
Friday
4/18/2025 |
Discussion 11 (solutions) |
||||
| 14 |
Monday
4/21/2025 |
||||
|
Tuesday
4/22/2025 |
Week 14, Lecture 12: Line and Surface Integrals, Stokes' Theorem, Differential Forms of Maxwell's Equations |
(Shankar: 7.4, 7.9, 7.11) Index notation review |
|||
|
Wednesday
4/23/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 5:00 pm, Loomis 144 | ||||
|
Thursday
4/24/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 4:00 pm, MSEB 305 |
HW 11 due |
|||
|
Friday
4/25/2025 |
Discussion 12 (solutions) |
||||
| 15 |
Monday
4/28/2025 |
||||
|
Tuesday
4/29/2025 |
Week 15, Lecture 13: Complex Numbers and Fourier Transforms |
(Shankar: Ch. 5) | |||
|
Wednesday
4/30/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 5:00 pm, Loomis 144 | ||||
|
Thursday
5/1/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 4:00 pm, MSEB 305 | HW 12 due HW 13 assigned (HW 13 solutions) |
|||
|
Friday
5/2/2025 |
Discussion 13 (solutions) |
||||
| 16 |
Monday
5/5/2025 |
||||
|
Tuesday
5/6/2025 |
Week 16, Lecture 14: Wave Equation from Maxwell's Equations |
(Shankar: 7.11, Einstein 1905 paper) |
|||
|
Wednesday
5/7/2025 |
Office Hours 2:00 - 5:00 pm, Loomis 144 | HW 13 due (note Wednesday due date!) |
|||
|
Thursday
5/8/2025 |
Reading Day |
||||
|
Friday
5/9/2025 |
No discussion - finals week | ||||
| 17 |
Monday
5/12/2025 |
Final Exam |
|||
|
Tuesday
5/13/2025 |
Bonus assignment due Final formula sheet Final practice problems (Final practice solutions) |
||||
|
Wednesday
5/14/2025 |
|||||
|
Thursday
5/15/2025 |
|||||
|
Friday
5/16/2025 |
|||||
| Office Hours 2:00 - 4:00 pm, MSEB 305 |