Understanding Modern Physics I: Relativity and Cosmology
- Offered byCoursera
Understanding Modern Physics I: Relativity and Cosmology at Coursera Overview
Duration | 12 hours |
Total fee | Free |
Mode of learning | Online |
Difficulty level | Beginner |
Official Website | Explore Free Course  |
Credential | Certificate |
Understanding Modern Physics I: Relativity and Cosmology at Coursera Highlights
- Flexible deadlines Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.
- Shareable Certificate Earn a Certificate upon completion
- 100% online Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.
Understanding Modern Physics I: Relativity and Cosmology at Coursera Course details
- This course is the first course in the Understanding Modern Physics series, which covers an introduction to special relativity, general relativity and cosmology.
- We will find: (i) How space and time are relative to observers, and unified into a more fundamental construction of spacetime; (ii) Why the spacetime is not absolute, but rather curves in response to matter, and how gravity emerge as a result of such spacetime curvature; and (iii) What is the framework to understand the evolution of the whole universe, and how that is related to problems such as the origin of space and matter, and the fate of our universe.
Understanding Modern Physics I: Relativity and Cosmology at Coursera Curriculum
Special Relativity: Relativity of Space and Time
Introduction
Principles of Relativity
Speed of Light
Postulates
Light Clock
Time Dilation
4-Step Reasoning
Twin Paradox
Physical Picture
Interferometers (* optional video)
Ether (* optional video)
Speed of Light from Maxwell (* optional video)
Units (* optional video)
Weekly Summary
I - 1
Special Relativity: Length, Simultaneity and Lorentz Transformation
Introduction
Length Contraction
Length in 4-Step Reasoning (* optional video)
Velocity Addition: First Look (* optional video)
Terrell Rotation (* optional video)
Device for "Same Time"
Spacetime Diagram
Relativity of Same Time
Twin Paradox Revisited (* optional video)
Causality
No Perfect Rigid Body
Ladder Paradox
Lorentz Transform, Space Part
Lorentz Transform, Time Part
Effects From Lorentz Transform
Velocity Addition
Summary
I - 2
Special Relativity: Geometry, Energy and Momentum
Introduction
Geometry
Lorentzian and Euclidean
Invariant Interval
Conserved Quantities
Newtonian Momentum
Momentum
Kinetic Energy
Mass Conservation?
Energy
4D Vectors
Doppler Effect (* optional video)
Spacetime Metric (* optional video)
Natural Units (* optional video)
Summary
I - 3
General Relativity
Introduction
Why gravity is related to inertia?
Equivalence Principle
Time Dilation
Schwarzschild Metric
Light Bending
Gravitational Lensing
Black Holes
Journey of Falling in
Are Black Holes Black?
Gravitational Waves
Summary
I - 4
Cosmology
Olber's Paradox
The Observable Universe
Cosmological Principle
Friedmann Equation
Hubble Law
Continuity Equation
Matter Content
Origins and Summary
I - 5
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