Course Description
In this module, students examine the concepts of space and time, mass and energy, in relation to the description of physical reality. It discusses the evolution of our understanding of these fundamental concepts from Aristotle to Einstein, and begins with commonsensical, intuitive ideas of space, time and gravity, and demonstrates how these had to be radically revised over centuries in order to correctly describe nature as best we know it. The module gradually leads the student to the modern physical viewpoint of Einsteinian relativity in which space, time and matter are not only intimately related, but in a sense actually unified. We hope to impart a critical appreciation of the concepts discussed as well as the ability to perform simple calculations that quantitatively explore the implications of these profound ideas.
The treatment will in general emphasise the role of fundamental or primitive concepts and ideas in the evolution of our theoretical or mental picture of the physical world and how these get modified and extended by taking into account new ‘facts’ provided by observation and controlled experiments (although the discussion of the latter will be somewhat more sophisticated than Einstein’s experimental verification of the principle of relativity!).
To adapt a quote from the preface to the book ‘The Evolution of Physics’ by Einstein and Infeld: “… You may find it boring or interesting, dull or exciting, but our aim will be accomplished if these lectures give you some idea of the eternal struggle of the inventive human mind for a fuller understanding of the laws governing physical phenomena.”
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