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Special Theory of Relativity

Special Theory of Relativity. "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing." "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school."

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Special Theory of Relativity

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  1. Special Theory of Relativity

  2. "The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing." • "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." • "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." (Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton) Albert Einstein

  3. Explains falling bodies and orbiting masses through a method that is very different from Newtonian mechanics  explains gravity in terms of the geometry of space and time • There is no way to tell the difference between an accelerating form of reference and a gravitational field • Changes in the gravitational field travel across the universe as gravity waves, at the speed of light Theory of General Relativity

  4. Arose from Maxwell’s description of light  a combination of oscillating electric and magnetic fields • Two unexplainable problems: #1 – blackbody radiators #2 – metals give up electrons under certain types of light Special Theory of Relativity

  5. Frames of Reference

  6. Consider a magnet and a closed coil of wire • Maxwell predicted that: When the magnet moves towards the coil, an electric field forms near the magnet, which in turn causes an electric current in the wire • Maxwell also predicted that: If the coil moves and the magnet remains at rest, an electric current is in the wire, but not because of an electric field, but because the magnetic field exerts a force on the charges in the wire A Famous Thought Experiment

  7. What was Einstein’s problem? It didn’t make sense that from the magnet or wire’s frame of reference, the cause would be different • From this, he developed two postulates A Famous Thought Experiment

  8. Postulate 1: The Principle of Relativity The laws of physics are the same in all inertial frames of reference. No physics experiment can ever determine whether you are at rest or moving at a constant velocity A Famous Thought Experiment

  9. Postulate 2: The Speed of Light Principle There is at least one inertial frame of reference in which, for an observer at rest in this frame of reference, the speed of light, c, in a vacuum is independent of the motion of the source of the light. A Famous Thought Experiment

  10. From these came the Special Theory of Relativity: All physical laws are the same in all inertial frames of reference, and the speed of light is independent of the motion of the light source or its observer in all inertial frames of reference. • What does this mean for us? In every frame of reference, the speed of light is c Special Theory of Relativity

  11. The slowing down of time in one reference frame moving relative to an observer in another reference frame Where is the time interval of the moving clock, and is the time interval of the stationary clock Time Dilation

  12. Time Dilation – The Light Clock (p. 581 to 583)

  13. The shortening of distances in an inertial frame of reference moving relative to an observer in another inertial frame of reference Where is the length of the object to the moving observer, and is the length of the object to the stationary observer Length Contraction

  14. Length Contraction (p. 588 – 589)

  15. The Twin Paradox

  16. EinsteinLight The Twin Paradox (p. 593 – 594)

  17. Clocks and passenger jets  two trips = 273 ns slower than Earth for the westbound; 332 ns slower than westbound for eastbound • GPS  the signals travel at the speed of light; gravity affects the speed of clocks, the fast relative motion of the satellites; results in an error of up to 11 km/day Real Life Applications of Relativity

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