Summary of 1.1 Course Organization (8.20 Introduction to Special Relativity)

00:00:00 - 00:15:00

This video provides an introduction to the 1.1 course on special relativity, discussing the history and development of the theory, the class structure and grading scheme, and the homework assignments and class discussion. The main focus is on the organization and content of the course, with a particular emphasis on the homework assignments and class discussion.

• 00:00:00 This video introduces special relativity, discusses the history and development of the theory, and provides an overview of the class structure and grading scheme. The main focus of this lecture is on the organization and content of the course, with a particular emphasis on the homework assignments and class discussion.
• 00:05:00 This video provides an overview of the course organization for 1.1 Special Relativity. The first day of class, all lectures will be on Zoom. On other days, there will be live class recordings, and the final exam will be available for about 24 hours. The course materials include textbooks, papers, and readings.
• 00:10:00 The 1.1 Course Organization (8.20 Introduction to Special Relativity) video outlines the homework schedule for the course. Pset number zero, which is a creative project, is due January 22nd. Other psets are shorter and are more pointed, with the goal of having students complete them by the time the next piece of homework rolls around. I encourage students to discuss physics concepts with their peers in breakout rooms, and to use their creative abilities while working on the psets. The first Duncan experiment, a thought experiment about relativity, is due on January 30th.
• 00:15:00 In this first video of the 1.1 course, the instructor introduces the concepts of reference frames and how they can affect the way we experience reality. He then asks students to think about a problem they have seen in real life that can be explained by the effects of special relativity. Finally, he introduces the players, Alice and Bob, and asks them to discuss a reference frame issue using Star Trek technology.