Special Relativity For Dummies Adam Auton Classical Relativity

Special Relativity For Dummies! Adam Auton

Classical Relativity 1, 000 ms-1 ■ How fast is Spaceship A approaching Spaceship B? ■ Both Spaceships see the other approaching at 2, 000 ms-1. ■ This is Classical Relativity. 1, 000 ms-1

Einstein’s Special Relativity 0 ms-1 300, 000 ms-1 1, 000 ms-1 n n Both spacemen measure the speed of the approaching ray of light. How fast do they measure the speed of light to be?

Special Relativity n Stationary man ¡ n Man travelling at 1, 000 ms-1 ¡ ¡ n 300, 000 ms-1 301, 000 ms-1? Wrong! The Speed of Light is the same for all observers

Time Travel! n Time between ‘ticks’ = distance / speed of light n Light in the moving clock covers more distance… ¡ ¡ V n …but the speed of light is constant… …so the clock ticks slower! Moving clocks run more slowly!

Three effects n 3 strange effects of special relativity ¡ ¡ ¡ Lorentz Transformations Relativistic Doppler Effect Headlight Effect

Lorentz Transformations

Lorentz Transformations ■ Light from the top of the bar has further to travel. ■ It therefore takes longer to reach the eye. ■ So, the bar appears bent. ■ Weird!

Doppler Effect n The pitch of the siren: ¡ ¡ n Rises as the ambulance approaches Falls once the ambulance has passed. The same applies to light! ¡ ¡ Approaching objects appear blue (Blue-shift) Receding objects appear red (Red-shift)

Headlight effect V n n n Beam becomes focused. Same amount of light concentrated in a smaller area Torch appears brighter!

Warp n Program used to visualise three effects Demo. . .

Fun stuff Eiffel Tower n Stonehenge Website: http: //www. adamauton. com/warp/