Prof. Michael S. Vogeley
Department of Physics
Office: 811 Disque Hall
Phone: 215-895-2710
Email: vogeley@drexel.edu
Announcements
Course Meetings
Syllabus
Course Description and Philosophy
Grading
Reading Assignments
Lecture Notes
Homework Assignments
Homework Hints
Homework Solutions
Exams
Midterm Solutions
Course Schedule
Welcome to the home page for Honors 301, Special Theory of Relativity. Watch this space for important announcements and useful hints. Send me email to ask questions about homework assignments and the course readings so that I can give you timely feedback and send any relevant homework hints to everyone else in the class. To ensure that you receive email sent to the class, you must read email sent to your official Drexel email address.
All lecture notes and homework solutions will be distributed as PDF files from this web page. No paper copies will be handed out.
Office hours: 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. Wednesdays (or by appointment).
Relativity is sometimes thought of as "far out" science applicable only to extreme astrophysical circumstances. In fact, understanding of both Special and General Relativity is necessary for operation of several systems that we have come to rely on. Operation of satellites in orbit around the Earth requires that we compute the effects of both Special and General relativity. Systems like GPS would utterly fail without doing so (which means that most of our advanced weapons guidance systems would fail). I'll show you a "Handbook on Relativistic Time Transfer" that proves this point.
Topics that will be covered in this course include
The most important goal of this course is that you further develop your ability to think clearly and quantitatively about the physical world. It is unlikely that your daily life and work will require you to instantly recall the equations that we will use. However, well-developed physical insight will serve you well in whatever endeavor you choose. Einstein was fond of the ``gedankenexperiment'' - the thought experiment - as a means of gaining insight on a problem. I hope that this course will likewise stretch your imagination.
The Class Participation component will be partially based on attendance. Extra credit will be given to new theories of spacetime and gravity that result in published papers in the Physical Review.
Please read the assignments before class and prepare to ask questions.
See the Course Schedule below for the weekly reading assignments.
Solutions to the homework will be posted on the web page on the due date; that is why late homework will not be accepted. Please strive to present your answers in a neat, workmanlike fashion; the clarity of your solutions will count toward your grade.
Science is a collaborative enterprise and you are encouraged to discuss the homework problems. Brainstorming is fun! (Even Einstein received help.) But you and you alone are responsible for the work that you turn in. In other words, you may talk about the problems with your classmates, but you must write out your own solutions. Serious breaches of this policy will result in homework scores being dividing by the number of ``participants.'' Show your work. Answers without justification will receive no credit.
The Final will be 2 hours long, on Monday, March 19, 10:30-12:30 (location TBA). The Final will include material from the entire course, but with emphasis on the second half of the course. Please note that material from Week 10 is not covered in any homework, but will be covered in the final.
The exams will be open book and open note. But you'll find that an open mind will be most helpful. Calculators may be used for simple arithmetic operations. The use of calculators for execution of ``memorized'' formulae is specifically not allowed. Ask me if you are uncertain about this policy.
| Week | Class Dates | Reading | Homework | Exams |
| 1 | January 9, 11 | ch. 1 | HW1 | |
| 2 | January 16, 18 | ch. 2 | HW2 | |
| 3 | January 23, 25 | ch. 3 | ||
| 4 | January 30, February 1 | ch. LT | HW3 | |
| 5 | February 6, 8 | ch. 4 | HW4 | Midterm (Feb. 8) |
| 6 | February 13, 15 | ch. 5 | ||
| 7 | February 20, 22 | ch. 6 | HW5 | |
| 8 | February 27, March 1 | ch. 7 | HW6 | |
| 9 | March 6, 8 | ch. 8 | HW7 | |
| 10 | March 13, 15 | ch. 9 | ||
| 11 | No Class | Final Exam, March 19 |
Last update: March 15, 2007