2023-24 Academic Catalog

This course begins by reviewing Newtonian mechanics, with applications of vector analysis and the concepts of momentum and energy to large-scale gravitational phenomena in the universe. The course moves beyond the Newtonian framework to consider a relativistic framework where time and space are intertwined and explores the motion of objects whose speeds approach the speed of light. Comfort with algebra and the integration and differentiation of elementary functions is assumed. Weekly laboratory work. Prerequisite: Previous completion of Mathematics 120 or 121. Not open to students who have completed Physics 131, 143, 145 or 151 at Carleton.