Special and General Relativity, and an Introduction to Mathematical Methods in Physics


Physics 225, Summer 2018

Lecture (50 minutes): Loomis 222, Mondays, Thursdays at 10 am

Discussion section (110 minutes): Loomis 222, Mondays, Thursdays at 1 pm

2 credit hours


image by Hansong Zhang

News, announcements, errata

    •  5/254/18: Physics 225 first meets on Monday June 11. The course packet for the entire term will be available at the bookstore a few days before; you should buy it and bring it to each and every lecture and discussion section.


    The basics

    It is Einstein's Theory of Relativity that braids space and time into a thread from which the fabric of existence is woven; it is Relativity that forces the existence of magnetism, and the Pauli Principle, and the biochemistry of living things. A Newtonian universe would be sterile.

    In spite of this, there is a fever-dream alienness to Einstein's theory. It is a subject that offers students a first opportunity to see how profoundly different physical reality is from our familiar (and grossly inaccurate) classical picture. This divergence springs inescapably from a single, simple observation: the speed with which a beam of light travels through empty space is exactly 299,792,458 meters per second. It does not matter if the source of light is moving with respect to the measuring apparatus. The speed of light never changes.

    The format of the course comprises twice-weekly lectures, as well as meetings in which students work together in small groups (closely supervised by the instructor) to solve a number of simple problems, then to discuss the conclusions one can draw from the results. In this way, students will derive for themselves some of the surprising features of our post-classical reality.

    We will review mathematical techniques as required. Students will be expected to become comfortable using calculus to solve problems as necessary.

    Completion of each of the semi-weekly homework sets will require two or three hours. Grades will be based most strongly on participation in class meetings and performance on problem sets and exams.

    Pre/corequisites: Physics 212 and Math 231.

    Two credit hours.





    Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons


    Unless otherwise noted, all material copyright George Gollin, University of Illinois, 2018.

    Image at top of page: Hansong Zhang. Used with permission.