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Relativity. Jennifer Keehn. “I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomena, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details.” -Albert Einstein. What Was Known. Newton’s three laws
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Relativity Jennifer Keehn
“I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomena, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details.” -Albert Einstein
What Was Known • Newton’s three laws • Maxwell’s Laws of Electromagnetism
Special Relativity: Two Postulates • The laws of physics are the same for all non-accelerating observers • The speed of light in a vacuum is constant for all observers, regardless of motion
But This is Inconsistent with Classical Mechanics! • In classical mechanics, v+u=V • Einstein’s postulate says that the speed of light is independent of the motion of all observers and sources.
Time Dilation Length Contraction Momentum Total Energy T=To(1-(v/c)2)-1/2 L=Lo(1-(v/c)2)1/2 P=mv(1-(v/c)2)-1/2 E=mc2(1-(v/c)2)-1/2 Consequences of Einstein’s Postulates
General Relativity: Principle of Equivalence “I was sitting in a chair in the patent office at Bern when all of a sudden a thought occurred to me: if a person falls freely he will not feel his own weight. This simple thought made a deep impression on me. It impelled me toward a theory of gravitation.” -Albert Einstein
Principle of Equivalence • There is no local experiment that can be done to distinguish between the effects of a uniform gravitational field in a non-accelerating inertial frame and the effects of a uniformly accelerating reference frame.
General Relativity • The presence of matter causes spacetime to warp or curve. • The theory gives us a procedure for calculating the curvature of spacetime.
Curvature of Space • Curvature of Space=8G/c4•(mass-energy density)
Testing the General Theory of Relativity • Deflection of Starlight • First tested during total solar eclipse in 1919
Slowing Down of Clocks by Gravity • Clock closer to the mass measures a shorter elapsed proper time than a clock that is further out. • Rc=2MG/c2, where Rc is the Schwarzschild radius.