Special Relativity: Speed of Object
Special Relativity: Speed of Object
Special Relativity: Speed of Object
Step 2. Replace “primed” quantities with “unprimed” and “unprimed” with “primed.” i.e. x = x‟
+ vt and t = t‟ where „v‟ is speed of frame not speed of object.
5. The First Postulate of Special Relativity is a person playing pool on a smooth and fast
moving ship does not have to compensate for the ship‟s speed. The laws of physics are the
same whether the ship is moving uniformly or at rest.
6. The First Postulate of Special Relativity: Einstein‟s first postulate of special relativity
assumes our inability to detect a state of uniform motion. Many experiments can detect
accelerated motion, but none can, according to Einstein, detect the state of uniform motion.
7. The Second Postulate of Special Relativity: The second postulate of special relativity states
that the speed of light in empty space will always have the same value regardless of the
motion of the source or the motion of the observer.
8. The Ether: Historical Perspective Light is a wave. Waves require a medium through which to
propagate. Medium as called the “ether” (from the Greek aither, meaning upper air).
Maxwell‟s equations assume that light obeys the Newtonian - Galilean transformation.
10. (x, y, z, t) are the coordinates of position of an object from S frame which is at rest and (x', y',
z', t‟) are the position of the same object from frame S' moving with speed v along x-x'
direction. The Lorentz Transformation: The relations between the primed and unprimed
space and time coordinates are the Lorentz transformations, each coordinate in one frame is
a linear function of all the coordinates in the other frame, and the inverse functions are the
inverse transformation. Depending on how the frames move relative to each other and how
they are oriented in space relative to each other. Other parameters that describe direction,
speed, and orientation enter the transformation equations.
12. Time Dilation: We explore the rate of time in different inertial frames by considering a special
kind of clock – a light clock – which is just one arm of an interferometer. Consider a light
pulse bouncing vertically between two mirrors. We analyze time it takes for the light pulse to
complete a round trip both in the rest frame of the clock (labeled S‟), and in an inertial frame
S where the clock is observed to move horizontally at a velocity v.
Figure 1: Reference frame S' moves with velocity v (in the x direction) relative to reference
frame S.
We have the intuitive relationships x = x' + vt' where, t = t'
………… (A)
(1)
We have stated that we would like the laws of physics to be the same in all
inertial reference frames. Physically, we should be able to perform the same
experiments in different reference frames, and find always the same physical
laws. Mathematically, these laws are expressed by equations. So, we should be
able to “transform'' our equations from one inertial reference frame to the
other inertial reference frame, and always find the same answer.
**When the frame S' is moving along a straight line relative to first at any
arbitrary direction:
Then the relative velocity v = vxi + vyj + vzk ; vx, vy, vz are the components of
velocity v along x, y and z direction respectively.
& t' = t
where, r and r' are the position vectors relative to frames S and S'
respectively.
Where u' is the velocity of the particle in S' and u is the velocity of the same in
S frame respectively. This equation (4) represents the Galilean transformation
of velocity of a particle.
On the other hand we may say that Newton's Second Law is valid in all inertial
frames i. e. it is invariant under Galilean transformation. i. e. same in two
different reference frames.
Indeed, it does not matter which inertial frame we observe from, we recover
the same Second Law of Motion each time. In the parlance of physics, we say
the Second Law of Motion is invariant under the Galilean Transformation.