ASTRO 1106 - Relativity, Cosmology, and Black Holes

(PBS)

Summer. 3 credits.

Prerequisites: high school algebra and trigonometry.

Staff.

Explanation of Einstein’s theory of special relativity, which brought about a fundamental change in our conceptual understanding of space and time. The consequences of the theory-including mass-energy equivalence, nuclear fission and fusion, and thermonuclear process in stars and why we can’t travel faster than light-and how it all makes sense. Cosmology, studying the evolution and future of the universe and general relativity. The death of stars: white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes.