Last modified: 28 Jun 2018 10:27
How does time feature in the physical description of the world, and how does this description relate to how time appears to us? Among other things, this course will look at how time is defined and used in the physics from Aristotle to Einstein, at the experience of a 'flow' of time, at time travel, at why Champagne corks pop but not 'unpop', and at whether one could causally affect the past.
| Study Type | Undergraduate | Level | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Session | First Sub Session | Credit Points | 30 credits (15 ECTS credits) |
| Campus | None. | Sustained Study | No |
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The main problems about time concern the relation between how time appears to us and how it features in the physical description of the world. To us time appears as flowing and as possessing a direction; the past seems fixed and the future open to influence. In physics, time is just a parameter used in our description, with no apparent flow; and while some phenomena (Champagne corks popping) are more familiar than their time inverses, the fundamental laws underlying them seem to be essentially time-symmetric. This course will introduce and discuss these problems.
Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.
2 x 3500-word essays (50% each)
There are no assessments for this course.
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