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Special Relativity
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Special Relativity made Relatively Simple offers information and experiments about special relativity.
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Special Relativity Life is the joyous dance of trillions of molecules! Hey, boys and girls! Remember when we used to think that Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity was something hard to understand? Well, now that we've looked at it and know just...A short overview of special relativity, filled with relativistic ray traced images. Explains relativistic effects using a theoretical spaceship.
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C-ship: Relativistic ray traced images Relativistic ray traced images Welcome aboard C-ship, exploring flight near the speed of light! C-ship helps you understand Einstein's theory of Special Relativity intuitively through the medium of computer-synthesised images. To view the images in this document, you need a...A brief overview of the theory of special relativity, and how it pertains to particles at SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator)
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Theory: Special Relativity The laws are different at speeds reached by the particles at SLAC. Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity describes the motion of particles moving at close to the speed of light. In fact, it gives the correct laws of motion for...A growing collection of pages on special relativity, including Special Relativity in under 15 Minutes!
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SR1 This theory has had a major impact on all our lives, although you may not think so. The purpose of these Web pages is to try to relate the theory in a clear and understandable way, with the mathematics and...The major principles of special relativity (SR) are discussed in an accessible way, via 5 segments, to help you understand the lingo and theories involved.
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Howstuffworks How Special Relativity Works If you are a fan of science fiction, then you know that relativity is a fairly common part of the genre. For example, people on Star Trek are always talking about the space-time continuum, worm holes, time dilations and all...Individual photons, which tunnel through a quantum barrier, can apparently travel faster than light.
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Science Technology at Scientific American.com: Ask the Experts: Physics: What is known about tachyons, theoretical particles that travel faster than light and move backward in time? Is there scientific reason to think they really exist? What is known about tachyons, theoretical particles that travel faster than light and move backward in time? Is there scientific reason to think they really exist? John Manahan Annapolis, Maryland Raymond Y. Chiao is professor of physics at the University...A unit for an online relativity textbook explaining special relativistic mathematical physics.
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sr Modern Relativity modernrelativity special relativity black hole mass energy Einstein time Schwarzschild light speed Unit focuses on special relativity only. Special relativity is a special case of a more general physics. We use only Cartesian coordinate systems. In special relativity we do not consider gravitation, and it is also not a quantum theory. Thus...From the free encyclopedia Wikipedia.
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Special relativity Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A simple introduction to this subject is provided in Special relativity for beginners Special relativity (SR) or the special theory of relativity is the physical theory published in 1905 by Albert Einstein. It replaced Newtonian notions of space and time...A standard introduction to special relativity where explanations are based on pictures called spacetime diagrams.
http://www.phys.vt.edu/~takeuchi/relativity/notes
Relativists consider it a very important exercise to have students decide how to measure the length of a rapidly moving object.
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Special Relativity But if you will think on this for a moment, you will realize that it is not something you ordinarily do. Consider a freight train moving along a track. How would you measure its length? In actual practice, you would...An introduction to relativity using space-time diagrams.
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Relativity Tutorial Relativity can be described using space-time diagrams. Contrary to popular opinion, Einstein did not invent relativity. Galileo preceded him. Aristotle had proposed that moving objects (on the Earth) had a natural tendency to slow down and stop. This is shown...Here is the formula for adding velocities in special relativity when motion occurs in a single direction.
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Relativistic Velocities A is moving with a velocity v relative to an object B and B is moving with a velocity u (in the same direction) relative to an object C. What is the velocity of A relative to C? v u...The discovery of special relativity was inevitable, given the momentous discoveries that preceded it.
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Special relativity The classical laws of physics were formulated by Newton in the Principia in 1687. According to this theory the motion of a particle has to be described relative to an inertial frame in which the particle, not subjected to external...Suppose you took a trip across the universe in a spaceship, accelerating all the time at one Earth gravity g. How far would you travel in a given amount of time?
http://casa.colorado.edu/~ajsh/sr/wheel.html
Lecture notes on Special Relativity, prepared by J. D. Cresser, Department of Physics, Macquarie University. 44 pages.
http://www.physics.mq.edu.au/~jc...Notes/SpecialRelativityNotes.pdf
This is chapter two of Christoph Schiller's 1000 page walk through the whole of physics, from classical mechanics to relativity, electrodynamics, thermodynamics, quantum theory, nuclear physics and unification. 61 pages.
http://www.motionmountain.net/C-2-CLSC.pdf
Synchronization functions set the mathematical clocks represented by the Lorentz transformation and resetting these clocks mathematically only produces a theory equivalent to special relativity in predicting empirical facts. 57 pages.
http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0409105
There is a preferred algebra of quaternions and complex numbers that is ideally suited to express the equations of special relativity and classical electrodynamics.
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/math-ph/pdf/0309/0309061.pdf
The quaternions are an expansion of complex numbers and show close relations to numerous physically fundamental concepts (e.g. Pauli Matrices).
http://arxiv.org/ftp/physics/papers/0308/0308017.pdf
Lorentz contraction in systems undergoing constant proper acceleration is proven to be completely self-consistent in the context of special relativity.
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/gr-qc/pdf/0301/0301050.pdf
The age-old puzzling problem of Lorentz contraction on a rotating platform, i.e., Ehrenfest's paradox, is explained in its proper mathematical context.
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/gr-qc/pdf/0309/0309020.pdf
An estimate of the speed and distances covered by Santa Claus on Christmas night. The physics is unassailable. The article is hosted on the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory website.
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FermiNews December 11, 1998 Santa has a major delivery problem. There are some 2 billion children in the world expecting Christmas presents. Assuming an average of 2.5 children per household, then, Santa has to visit about 800 million homes scattered about the globe. The...Special relativity can be derived with moving rulers in such a way that the astonishing connection between space and time can be clearly understood.
http://www.everythingimportant.org/relativity/special.pdf
A report on the ineffectiveness of standard university instruction in Einstein's concept of time by Rachel E. Scherr, Peter S. Shaffer, and Stamatis Vokos. 22 pages.
http://arxiv.org/ftp/physics/papers/0207/0207109.pdf
There are many ways to derive the Lorentz transformation without invoking Einstein's constancy of light postulate. The path preferred in this paper restates a simple, established approach.
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/physics/pdf/0302/0302045.pdf
Dr. John Stachel speculates on how Einstein arrived at SRT. Dr. Stachel is Professor of Physics Emeritus and Director of the Center of Einstein Studies at Boston University.
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Einstein's Discovery of Relativity John Stachel This reprints an essay written ca. 1983 What Song the Syrens Sang How Did Einstein Discover Special Relativity in John Stachel, Einstein from B to Z If you have read Edgar Allen Poe's The Murders in the Rue Morgue perhaps...A spacetime with a compact spatial dimension has an absolute inertial reference frame that can be determined experimentally by measuring deviations from the 1/r^2 force law.
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/gr-qc/pdf/0503/0503070.pdf
This is how special relativity is taught by Dr. David Morin at Harvard University. 72 pages.
http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~phys16/Textbook/ch10.pdf
Followers of large well-supported research programs have lots of powerful senior scientists to promote their careers. People with the uncanny ability to ask new questions or recognize unexamined assumptions are often underappreciated.
http://www.everythingimportant.o...g/relativity/no-new-einstein.pdf
Who created the theory of relativity? This reference identifies the substantial contributions made to relativity theory by the mathematician Henri Poincaré. 254 pages.
http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0408077
Henri Poincaré set up all the basic concepts of special relativity several years before Einstein published On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies (Annalen der Physik vol XVII 1905 p. 891-921). This is the short version of the story.
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Henri Poincar une contribution décisive la Relativité A decisive contribution to Special Relativity The short story by Jacques. Fric (June 2003) Acknowledgements: This article relies on a paper published by Jules Leveugle ref 7] and a following paper published by Christian Marchal Poincar une contribution decisive la...The first presentation of the Lorentz transformations, including the crucial time dilation, belongs to Larmor [1897].
http://eprint.uq.edu.au/archive/00002307/01/larmor.pdf
A multimedia tutorial on Special Relativity. The introductory level takes 10 minutes, but has links to over 40 explanatory pages giving greater depth and breadth.
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Einstein Light: a brief illumination of relativity Relativity in brief or in detail Einstein's theory of relativity integrates electromagnetism into a logical extension of the relativity of Galileo and Newton. Its conculsions have changed profoundly our ideas of time and space. These multimedia modules (click on menu...It is argued that the beginning of relativity theory occurred in early 1889, when G. F. FitzGerald wrote a letter to Oliver Heaviside concerning a result the latter had just obtained from Maxwell's equations.
http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/...rchive/00000987/00/Michelson.pdf
Spatially compact spacetimes break global Lorentz invariance and define absolute inertial frames of reference.
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Google Groups sci.physics.research Perspicacious iperspicaci yahoo.com Find messages by this author Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 20:26:57 +0000 (UTC) Local: Thurs, Aug 4 2005 4:26pm Subject: Re: The Twin Paradox in a Closed Universe Reply to Author Forward Print View Thread Show original...Formulas relating one and the same force in two inertial frames of reference are derived directly from the Lorentz transformation of space and time coordinates.
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/physics/pdf/0507/0507099.pdf
The gamma factor and time dilation can be derived using a very simple clock.
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Time dilation The fact that the speed of light is the same in all reference frames has the consequence that moving clocks run slow. This means that if two events occur at the same place, such as the ticks of a clock,...Minkowski claimed scientific priority for a great, new, geometric theory of relativity at the Cologne lecture of 1908, based largely on the work of Poincaré. Poincaré was purposely excluded from the meeting. 42 pages.
http://www.univ-nancy2.fr/DepPhilo/walter/papers/einstd7.pdf
Tutorial explains about the postulates, paradox, simulaneity, time dilation, Lorentz transformation constructions, spacetime wheel, and the Fitzgerald-Lorentz contraction. Page includes some animated illustrations.
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Special Relativity These pages are ok as far as they go, but they are missing the planned highlight, to show you what things actually look like when you travel at near the speed of light. I hope to have the opportunity to...Conventional thinking says that all Lorentz covariant gravitation theories are unacceptable. 74 pages.
http://www.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/papers/Nordstroem.pdf