SPAC 205
From Space and Time to Space-Time:
    Understanding Relativity
Spring 1999
TTh: 9:25-10:40
HB 227

Yuri Balashov
Office: 304 Herman Brown Hall
Phone: 527-8750 x3409
yuri@ruf.rice.edu

Office hours: MW 1:00-2:00 pm; TTh after class; or by appointment

SPAC 205:

From Space and Time to Space-Time: Understanding Relativity

Albert Einstein 's theory of relativity is one of the greatest achievements of the human intellect. In popular opinion, this theory is obscure and shrouded in mystery and paradox. In fact, however, special relativity (SR) is remarkably clear and is more accessible to a nonspecialist audience than is commonly believed. The basic concepts of SR can be learned using a vivid language of space-time diagrams.

This course introduces students to a major transformation in our views about space and time precipitated by SR. We will focus on the conceptual foundations, as well as broader methodological, philosophical, and cultural implications of SR.

Historically, the way to SR was paved by critically reassessing some of our deeply entrenched intuitions about space, time, and motion in light of certain unexpected experimental findings. In learning SR, we can do no better then retrace some crucial steps Einstein and other famous physicists made in their fascinating intellectual journey to this theory. By the end of the course students will be prepared to accept initially counterintuitive concepts and results of SR as natural outcomes of a new way of thinking about space and time suggested, or even required, by attending to fundamental presuppositions of human knowledge made explicit by the invention of this theory.

Format:

Lecture and discussion. Student class presentations. Class participation will be strongly encouraged.

Texts:

Robert Geroch, General Relativity From A to B. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1978
Leo Sartori, Understanding Relativity. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1996
Additional notes and handouts will be available on the course WWW site: http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~spac205

Requirements:

Several problem sets (50%)
Midterm in-class exam (15%)
Final take-home exam (20%)
Group presentation (10%)
Class participation (5%)

Office Hours and Outside Help:

I will have regular office hours (MW 1:00-2:00 pm; TTh after class) and will also be available at other time (by appointment). Please understand that my office hours are for you to use. I am always willing to talk to you, explain things in greater detail than is possible in class and help you in any other way. Office hours are not just for students with "a problem," but for anybody wishing to discuss class-related material. Of course, if you have difficulty understanding the readings or the lectures, you are especially encouraged to see me. Such difficulties are best handled when they are addressed immediately.

Course Schedule and Assignments

Yuri Balashov's Personal Page

Center for the Study of Science and Technology