| Course Title: Space, Time, and Entropy |
| Start Date: 09/03/2025 End Date: 12/16/2025 |
| Term: Fall Semester 2025 |
| Description: The formulation of the laws of thermodynamics and discovery of relativity in the late 1800s and early 1990s had profound implications for our understanding of the universe. The idea that the entropy of the universe is always increasing, for example, had a deeply destabilizing effect on the Enlightenment idea of a clockwork universe that is ordered and unchanging. We will study the laws of thermodynamics and the ideas of relativity, with the goal of understanding their impact on science, art, literature, and society. Topics will include heat engines, reversible and irreversible processes, chaos, the heat death of the universe, Maxwell's Demon, information theory, and the directionality of time. |
| Distribution(s): NO - Meets No Distrib. Rqmt , FY - First-Year Seminar , WI - Writing-Intensive |
| Academic Level Of Course: Undergraduate | Credits:4.00 |
| Faculty | Phone | Email address |
| Dylan Shepardson | dshepard@mtholyoke.edu |
| Meeting Dates | Method | Meeting days | Meeting times | Building name | Room | Frequency |
| 09/03/2025 - 12/16/2025 | Seminar | Tuesday and Thursday | 10:30AM - 11:45AM | KNDD - Kendade | 203 | Weekly |
| Requisite Courses | ||
| None |
| Comments |
| Additional Comments |
| Course Tags | ||
| FYSEM0001 | First-Year Seminar | This is a First-Year Seminar. |
| Cross-listed Sections |
| None |
| Course Availability | ||||
| Section status: Closed | Capacity: 12 | Enrollment: 18 | Available: 0 | Waitlist: 0 |
BOOK INFORMATION
| Book List | Required | Publisher Full Price |
| Title: Arcadia Author: Stoppard, Tom Copyright: 1994 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 0571169341 Publisher: Faber & Faber |
Required | 10.20 |
| Title: From Eternity to Here Author: Carroll, Sean Copyright: 2010 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9789351116943 Publisher: Plume |
Required | 16.00 |
| Title: The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood Author: Gleick, James Copyright: 2012 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 1400096235 Publisher: Vintage |
Optional | 11.30 |
| Title: Relativity: the Special and the General Theory Author: Einstein, Albert Copyright: Edition: Volume: ISBN: 048641714X Publisher: Dover |
Required | 10.95 |
| Title: Maxwell's Demon: Why Warmth Disperses and Time Passes Author: von Baeyer, Hans Christian Copyright: 1999 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 0679433422 Publisher: Random House |
Optional | 25.00 |
| Title: Thermopoetics Author: Gold, Barri J. Copyright: 2012 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9780262517317 Publisher: MIT Press |
Optional | 14.95 |
| Title: It's About Time: Understanding Einstein's Relativity Author: Mermin, N. David Copyright: 2009 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9781400830848 Publisher: Princeton University Press |
Optional | 16.95 |
| Title: Gravity Author: Gamow, George Copyright: 2003 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9780486425634 Publisher: Dover |
Optional | 8.95 |
| Additional Book Comments |
| This is NOT the complete book list for this class. |
| Instructor's comments about the book list: The Einstein book is available in a variety of formats, including online as a free PDF. Note that several of the books are listed as "optional". I will assign and share selections from these, but you do not need to purchase these books unless you would like to own them. |