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Contents
Physics 7: Relativity and Cosmology
Fall 1998
Contents
From Antiquity to Einstein
Introduction
Overview
The scientific method
What is the ``scientific method''?
What is the difference between a fact, a theory and a hypothesis?
Truth and proof in science.
If scientific theories keep changing, where is the Truth?
What is Ockham's Razor?
How much fraud is there in science?
Are scientists wearing blinkers?
Why should we worry?
Large numbers
Appendix: Examples of large numbers
Times (in seconds)
Distances (in meters)
Velocities (in meters per second)
Masses (in kilograms)
Temperatures (in deg. Kelvin)
Monies (in 1994 US dollars)
Greek cosmology
Egypt and Babylon
Babylon
Egypt
Other nations
India
China
Early Greeks
Mythology
Early cosmology
The Pythagoreans
Early heliocentric systems
Aristotle and Ptolemy
Aristotelian Cosmology
The motion according to Aristotle
Ptolemy
From the Middle Ages to Heliocentrism
Preamble
The Middle Ages.
The Copernican Revolution
Aristotle in the 16th century
Kepler
Galileo and Newton
Introduction
Galileo Galilei
Galilean relativity
Mechanics
Astronomy
Galileo and the Inquisition
Isaac Newton
Mechanics.
Optics
Gravitation.
The Clouds Gather
Electricity and magnetism
Electricity
Magnetism
Waves vs. particles
Light
Problems
Ether
Galilean Relativity
Prelude to relativity
Einstein's Relativity and Modern Cosmology
The Special Theory of Relativity
Introduction
Enter Einstein
The first prediction: the speed of light and the demise of Newton's mechanics
The second prediction: Simultaneity is relative
The third prediction: The demise of Universal Time
Length contraction
Paradoxes.
Space and Time
The top speed.
Mass and energy.
The General Theory of Relativity
The happiest thought of my life.
Newton vs. Einstein
Gravitation vs acceleration
Light
Clocks in a gravitational force.
Black holes
Gravitation and energy
Space and time.
Properties of space and time.
Curvature
Waves
Summary.
Tests of general relativity.
Precession of the perihelion of Mercury
Gravitational red-shift.
Light bending
The double pulsar
The universe: size, origins, contents
Introduction
Light revisited
The inverse-square law
The Doppler effect
Emission and absorption lines
A happy marriage
Cosmic distance ladder
Step 1: distances up to 100
Step 2: distances up to 300,000
Step 3: distances up to 13,000,000
Step 4: distances up to 1,000,000,000
Step 5: distances beyond 1,000,000,000
The relativistic universe
The expanding universe
The Microwave Background Radiation
Nucleosynthesis
At the cutting edge
Dark matter
The cosmological constant
Homogeneity and isotropy
Summary
The lifes of a star
Introduction.
Stellar Power
The lifes of a star
In the beginning
A rising star
A Giant appears
And so it goes
The heavyweights
About this document ...
Jose Wudka
9/24/1998
