This book is written for anybody who is curious about nature and motion. Curiosity about how people, animals, things, images and empty space move leads to many adventures. This volume presents the best of them in the domains of relativity and cosmology. In the study of motion – physics – special and general relativity form two important building blocks.

Astronomy Notes is a website with a brief overview of astronomy's place in the scientific endeavor, the philosophy of science and the scientific method, astronomy that can be done without a telescope, a history of astronomy and science, Newton's law of gravity and applications to orbits, Einstein's Relativity theories, electromagnetic radiation, telescopes, all the objects of the solar system, solar system formation, determining properties of the stars, the Sun, fusion reactions, stellar structure, stellar evolution, the interstellar medium, the structure of the Milky Way galaxy, extra-galactic astronomy including active galaxies and quasars, cosmology, and extra-terrestrial life. This site also has pages giving angular momentum examples, a quick mathematics review, improving study skills, astronomy tables, and astronomy terms

This course provides a thorough introduction to the principles and methods of physics for students who have good preparation in physics and mathematics. Emphasis is placed on problem solving and quantitative reasoning. This course covers Newtonian mechanics, special relativity, gravitation, thermodynamics, and waves.

8.962 is MIT’s graduate course in general relativity, which covers the basic principles of Einstein’s general theory of relativity, differential geometry, experimental tests of general relativity, black holes, and cosmology.

In this course, the student will first learn about waves and oscillations in extended objects using classical mechanics. The course will then examine the sources and laws that govern static electricity and magnetism. A brief look at electrical measurements and circuits will help establish how electromagnetic effects are observed, measured, and applied. These topics lead to an examination of how Maxwell's equations unify electric and magnetic effects and how the solutions to Maxwell's equations describe electromagnetic radiation, which will serve as the basis for understanding all electromagnetic radiation, from very low frequency radiation emitted by power transmission lines to the most powerful astrophysical gamma rays. The course also investigates optics and launches a brief overview of Einstein's special theory of relativity. A basic knowledge of calculus is assumed. (Physics 102; See also: Biology 110, Chemistry 002, Mechanical Engineering 006)

A unique perspective on the confluence of the three basic conceptual frameworks in human experience. Contains several studies, with data, of remarkable world views of disparate cultures based on their specific cultures language. The premise is that how people experience the world, then think about it, then create a language around it, alters their perception of the world in very fundamental ways. The radical notion is that thought and language, creates the circumstances of, and contribute to significantly different realities for different peoples.

The internalization and realization of this concept is significant and can possibly radically alter and change how different cultures assess their ability to, at the most basic levels, understand other cultures realities.

The purpose of this exercise is to learn how to think about gravity, learn about scientific methodology, and transition from the Aristotelian to Newtonian to Einsteinian understanding of gravity.

The lessons in this unit were developed by teachers at Souhegan High School for junior/senior level Physics classes, to be taught during the first trimester of the 2016-17 school year. It includes 5-10 lessons that culminate in students demonstrating their ability to find meaning in complex text and incorporate key ideas of modern physics by completing the final creative writing project.

Modern physics is a very broad topic. We will be focusing on three of the main pillars of modern physics — special relativity, general relativity, and quantum theory. The goal of the unit it to have students use the concepts of modern physics accurately in a creative way and increase their willingness and confidence to learn more about the subjects beyond high school. Modern physics is intimidating to the general public. We hope to spark students interest and have students realize that they can make sense out of the counter intuitive model of reality.

Each topic will be broken into several phases of understanding:

Limitations of classical physics
Key principle that led to modern physics
Models for describing modern physics
Predictions and experiments that support and provide evidence for modern physics theories

The students will explore the phases by using inquiry-based reading. They will explore an anchor text for meaning while looking for where it addresses the four phases above. Students will then perform additional research and apply what they have learned in class to create their final project.

Quantum mechanics–even in the ordinary, non-relativistic, “particle” formulation that will be the primary focus of this course–has been a staggeringly successful physical theory, surely one of the crowning achievements of 20th century science. It’s also rather bizarre–bizarre enough to lead very intelligent and otherwise sensible people to make such claims as that the universe is perpetually splitting into many copies of itself, that conscious minds have the power to make physical systems “jump” in unpredictable ways, that classical logic stands in need of fundamental revision, and much, much more. In this course, we intelligent and sensible people will attempt to take a sober look at these and other alleged implications of quantum mechanics, as well as certain stubborn problems that continue to trouble its foundations.
Along the way, we will take plenty of time out to discuss philosophical questions about science that quantum mechanics raises in new and interesting ways: e.g., what it means to attribute probabilities to physical events, what the aims of scientific inquiry are (does it aim at something true, or merely at something useful?), what the role of observation is in constructing a scientific theory, what it means to say that there is an “objective” physical world, whether something as basic as logic can be viewed as an empirical discipline, whether there can be meaningful scientific questions whose answers cannot possibly be settled by experiment, and more.

This class is an introduction to classical mechanics for students who are comfortable with calculus. The main topics are: Vectors, Kinematics, Forces, Motion, Momentum, Energy, Angular Motion, Angular Momentum, Gravity, Planetary Motion, Moving Frames, and the Motion of Rigid Bodies.

This course, which concentrates on special relativity, is normally taken by physics majors in their sophomore year. Topics include Einstein’s postulates, the Lorentz transformation, relativistic effects and paradoxes, and applications involving electromagnetism and particle physics. This course also provides a brief introduction to some concepts of general relativity, including the principle of equivalence, the Schwartzschild metric and black holes, and the FRW metric and cosmology.

This subject introduces the history of science from antiquity to the present. Students consider the impact of philosophy, art, magic, social structure, and folk knowledge on the development of what has come to be called “science” in the Western tradition, including those fields today designated as physics, biology, chemistry, medicine, astronomy and the mind sciences. Topics include concepts of matter, nature, motion, body, heavens, and mind as these have been shaped over the course of history. Students read original works by Aristotle, Vesalius, Newton, Lavoisier, Darwin, Freud, and Einstein, among others.

The Special Theory of Relativity is a theory of classical physics that was developed at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. It changed our understanding of older physical theories such as Newtonian Physics and led to early Quantum Theory and later the Theory of General Relativity. Special Relativity is one of the foundation blocks of physics.

This book will introduce the reader to, perhaps, the most profound discovery of the twentieth century and the modern world: the universe has at least four dimensions.

These flash games can be played in the browser and cover topics such as relativity, gravity, and particle physics.

University Physics is a three-volume collection that meets the scope and sequence requirements for two- and three-semester calculus-based physics courses. Volume 1 covers mechanics, sound, oscillations, and waves. Volume 2 covers thermodynamics, electricity and magnetism, and Volume 3 covers optics and modern physics. This textbook emphasizes connections between between theory and application, making physics concepts interesting and accessible to students while maintaining the mathematical rigor inherent in the subject. Frequent, strong examples focus on how to approach a problem, how to work with the equations, and how to check and generalize the result.