Astr 160 lecture 11 special and general relativity. Special relativity wikibooks, open books for an open world. A modern elementary introduction to special relativity for advanced school children or firstyear university students, in russian. Syllabus introduction to special relativity physics. Its a bit of an odd element in our undergraduate curriculum, since sr is not really enough by itself to constitute a full semesterlong course. Lecture notes on special relativity department of physics. Free relativity books download ebooks online textbooks.
Concepts addressed here includes spacetime and fourdimensional space. Recorded september 22, 2008 at stanford university. Dynamics and relativity by stephen siklos, cambridge. Later, einstein was able to further develop this theory, leading to what is known as the general theory of relativity. Special theory of relativity university of toronto. Special relativityproblems wikibooks, open books for an. Although there are many consequences of special relativity, this complex theory consists of only two postulates. Oxford physics department notes on general relativity. This book is written for high school and college students learning about special relativity for the first time. Special relativity is a theory of exceptional elegance.
The following easily accessible features support printing a large group of documents or a single document at a time. It uses encapsulated postscript versions of many wikimedia commons diagrams, using their. A visual demonstration shows how spacetime undergoes curvature when mass is introduced. Please continue to improve it and thanks for the great work. Slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. The project gutenberg ebook of the meaning of relativity, by albert einstein this ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. Many of the consequences of the special theory of relativity are counterintuitive and violate common sense. This principle, called galilean relativity, is kept in einsteins theory of relativity. Suppose we are trying to describe the world as we see it.
Does time dilation mean that time actually passes more slowly in moving references frames or that it only seems to pass more slowly. Special relativity, cern accelerator school zeegse monday, 28 may 2012 historical background. By the beginning of the 1900s, there were two main branches of physics. For the man on the street, einstein and relativity are prob ably epitomized by this result. Fundamental laws of physics are identical for any two observers in uniform relative motion. If you have any comments or questions on these lecture notes, please email them to takeuchiatvtdotedu. It entirely replaced older physical theories such as newtonian physics and led to early quantum theory and general relativity. It is perhaps a little unfortunate that the word relativity immediately conjures up thoughts about the work of einstein. Optical images in sr that i just cant make sense of at all. If indeed, all of physics had to be compatible with relativity, what of newtonian gravity. The relativity theory stemming from maxwells equations is rightly regarded as one of the crown jewels of 20th century physics. Special relativity practice problems a textbook based on this website is now available from cambridge university press.
For the enthusiastic beginner kindle edition by morin, david. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in. Use ocw to guide your own lifelong learning, or to teach others. Albert einstein first published his theory of special relativity in 1905. It will appeal to the reader who has a healthy level of enthusiasm for understanding how and why the various results of special relativity come about all of the standard introductory topics in special relativity are covered. This stanford continuing studies course is the fourth of a. Introductory physics series is the result of a program of careful study, planning, and development that began in 1960 the education research center at the massachusetts institute of technology formerly the science teaching center was established to study the process of instruction, aids thereto, and the learning process itself, with special reference to science teaching at the. Introduction to special relativity physics mit opencourseware. Special relativity is now one of the foundation blocks of physics. Syllabus introduction to special relativity physics mit. David tong cambridge leture notes on dynamics and relativity.
Einstein showed that the constancy of the speed of light implies that simultaneity is not an. A wellknown result from special relativity that the speed of light inside a transversally receding light tube appears reduced or increased if approaching was overlooked. This led to einsteins development of special relativity, which corrects mechanics to. I try to demonstrate that relativity does not contradict common sense. The speed of light is independent of the motion of the light source or observer. It is the purpose of this book to provide an introduction to the special theory of relativity which is accessible to any stu dent who has had an introduction to general physics and some slight acquaintance with the calculus. Only the motion relative to other physical bodies is considered as. Introduction to tensor calculus for general relativity. This writeup summarizes the derivation and use of the lorentz transformation to relate two inertial frames. Some just slow my reading, but there are entire sections e. First discussion of minkowski diagrams, world lines. If you have hoped to understand the physics of lorentz contraction, time dilation, the twin paradox, and emc2, youre in the right place. Lecture notes on special relativity macquarie university.
Apr 26, 2012 in this course, professor susskind takes a close look at the special theory of relativity and also at classical field theory. Albert einstein 5 preface december, 1916 the present book is intended, as far as possible, to give an exact insight into the theory of relativity to those readers who, from a. I honestly cant say i really knew what i was doing until about halfway through the third time. Hartle general relativity solutions solution manual of the one of the best books on einsteins general relativity by j b hartle james b. Michelsonmorley experiment observed constancy of speed of light.
Key concept summary summary of useful metrics special relativity concept summary. Wolfgang rindler introduction to special relativity. Jan, 2009 lecture 1 of leonard susskinds modern physics concentrating on general relativity. Special relativity and steps towards general relativity course. It is in pdf format for convenient viewing as a fullscreen, structured presentation in a classroom. Einstein correctly defined common sense as those prejudices that we acquire at an early age. Documents and settingsphilip harrismy documentsteaching. Special relativity is treated in chapter 2 in the 1st edition, but broken up into chapters 2 and 3 in the 2nd edition.
Find materials for this course in the pages linked along the left. Introduction to special relativity, measuring time and space in the same units, intelligent observers, event and spacetime diagrams 1. Special relativity einstein 1905 based on two postulates. The special theory of relativity physics department, iisc. Introduction to special relativity mit opencourseware. This file is licensed under the creative commons attributionshare alike 3. Freely browse and use ocw materials at your own pace. Massachusetts institute of technology department of physics 8. Massachusetts institute of technology department of physics. Much of the material is at a level suitable for high school students who have had advanced placement in physics and. Special relativity may be divided into 1you shouldnt feel too bad about having spent so much time learning about a theory thats just the limiting case of another theory, because youre now going to do it again. Relativity assigns mass save as pdf file names based on the case identifier of the workspace and the date and time when you submit the pdf job. Brief introduction to special relativity mit opencourseware. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets.
Knuteson wishes to acknowledge that this course was originally designed and taught by prof. The idea that a principle of relativity applies to the properties of the physical. Special relativity is a featured book on wikibooks because it contains substantial content, it is wellformatted, and the wikibooks community has decided to feature it on the main page or in other places. Introduction the special theory of relativity was developed at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. This course introduces the basic ideas and equations of einsteins special theory of relativity. Title wolfgang rindler introduction to special relativity author.
Relativity is also the limiting case of another theory quantum. Introduction to special relativity stanford university. Einstein put forth special relativity, which explains motion at nearlight speeds. Relativity includes a few options that you can employ when you need to print natives or images of documents in relativity. Special relativity, mit introductory physics series nelson thomes misner, thorne and wheeler. Single save as pdf is an option within the viewer in relativity. An introduction to the special theory of relativity. In 1915 he published his general theory of relativity, dealing withgravityandacceleration. It is in no sense a provisional theory and is largely compatible with quantum theory.
Notes on special relativity pdf 78p this note covers the following topics. Newtonian mechanics, which describes the motion of everyday objects, and maxwells. Special relativity interrelates space and time in such a way that the speed of light is constant, and the theory leads to situations where two observers can disagree over time intervals and. This particular course was given to students with a strong mathematical. A walk on the train, relativistic dynamics, mass and energy, energy and momentum in lorentz transformations, transforming energy into mass and how. Relate the slope of the world line at various times to how fast you were walking, riding in a car, etc. Einsteins postulates for the special theory of relativity. The third key idea is that mass as well as mass and momentum. Special relativity read p98 to 105 the principle of special relativity.
This is einsteins famous strong equivalence principle and it makes general relativity an extension of special relativity to a curved spacetime. Massachusetts institute of technology department of. The point will just be to present enough material for you to understand why the theories seem to lead to the paradoxes they do. February 14, 2008 the views of space and time which i wish to lay before you have sprung from the soil of experimental physics, and therein lies their strength. Special relativity provides one of the more interesting pedagogical challenges. Refer to the following for the file name format specific to the type of pdf option you select. The laws of nature look exactly the same for all observers in inertial reference frames, regardless of their state of relative velocity. Given this topic, the presentation of the theories will be, in a mathematical sense, pretty super. The special theory of relativity was the result of developments in physics at the end of. Einsteins general theory of relativity lecture 1 youtube. It also dismissed the notion of absolute motion, that is the motion in absolute space. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading special relativity. Note that only a single pdf file special relativity is now one of the foundation blocks of physics.
Aug 11, 2017 special relativity problems edit sketch your personal world line on a spacetime diagram for the last 24 hours, labeling by time and location special events such as meals, physics classes, etc. We would need to tell the location of objects in our world, the velocities of the objects, and how these. Information from its description page there is shown below. Special relativity, cern accelerator school zeegse monday, 28 may 2012 historical background groundwork of special relativity laid by lorentz in studies of electrodynamics, with. Massachusetts institute of technology special relativity inertial. In physics, special relativity is the generally accepted and experimentally confirmed physical. We will probably have a lecture or two to introduce his general theory as well, but the principal focus will be on special relativity, which we will study in quite a bit of detail. Special relativity rensselaer polytechnic institute. Class ends with a questionandanswer period on a variety of topics in special relativity. This file is the special relativity lecture of the wikiversity.
The lecture then moves to general relativity and how it encompasses newtons laws of gravity. You may copy it, give it away or reuse it under the terms of the project gutenberg license included with this ebook or online at. Frames of reference and newtons laws, the speed of light, michelsonmorley experiment, special relativity, the lorentz transformations, time dilation, adding velocities. Lecture notes relativity physics mit opencourseware. Brief introduction to special relativity pdf mit opencourseware. Special relativity dismissed the notions of absolute space and time.
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