EAS 1601 II.

The Big Bang

Class 4: Basic Physics
SPACE-TIME
SPACE TIME COORDINATES, RELATIVITY, AND OTHER
NEW STUFF "Do not take the lecture too seriously . . . just relax
Our first topic deals with the
BEGINNING OF TIME
and enjoy it. I am going to tell you what nature
¾The Big Bang behaves like. If you will simply admit that maybe she
Last time we discussed early does behave like this, you will find her a delightful,
theories of the Earth and entrancing thing
thing. Do not keep saying to yourself "But
universe. But, scientists how can it be like that?" because you will get . . . into
discovered problems with these a blind alley from which nobody has yet escaped
escaped.
theories.
To understand these problems
Nobody knows how it can be like that."
and how they were solved we
need to lay a little more (Richard Feynman introducing a lecture about
groundwork from modern quantum theory)
physics:
¾space-time, and http://www.thebigview.com/spacetime/index.html
¾relativity

Aristotelian View of Space and Motion

Review: Velocity (speed) and Acceleration ¾ Aristotelian tradition
¾ All laws of nature could be worked out by pure reason
¾ “Natural state” of a body is to be at rest
¾ Copernican/Galilean Revolution – Birth of
Modern Science
¾ Use observations to understand nature
¾ Newton Laws of Motion
¾ Inertia: There is no unique standard of rest
¾ A body moving at a constant velocity was no different than
a body at rest (i.e., Newton Laws would apply equally to
both)
¾ Thus,
Thus it follows there is no universal standard of position
Classical or Gallilean Relativity Relativity of Galilean Frames of Reference
• There is no absolute standard of rest
– Objects/people traveling at constant speeds relative to each
are said to be in different inertial frames of reference Inertial frames of reference traveling at
– Observers in these two frames may view the same object and
g
disagree on its velocity.
y
speed v relative to each other
• For example: you are on a train moving at a speed of 10 m/s and ¾An observer in the x-frame of reference
walk up the aisle towards the front of the train at a rate of 2 m/s
• the passengers on the train say that you are moving 2 m/s. claims that the x’-frame is traveling at a
• someone standing
at 12 m/s.
t di on th the ttrackk would
ld say th
thatt you were moving
i velocity
l it 2 2v (t
(to the
th right)
i ht)
– who is right? ¾An observer in the x’-frame claims that the
x-frame
f is
i ttraveling
li att a velocity
l it off -2v
2 (t
(to
the left)
ƒ Both are valid! -v
X
v
X’

Galilean Coordinate Transformation In Summary

¾ One can derive commonsense equations to relate the
observations between the two frames
¾ The
Th Galilean
G lil conceptt off space-time
ti
¾ Prior to Einstein it was assumed that identical clocks of any two
observers could be synchronized so that they would always
agree: tt' = t – Abandoned the notion of absolute p
position and
¾ In other words, time was expected to have an absolute absolute speed
meaning, independent of the motion of the observer.
¾ It follows therefore that a position in one coordinate system – But held that
could be transformed into a position in another coordinate
system: x = x’ + vt • Distance (i.e., an increment in space) was invariant
vobj
bj = v
v’obj
bj + v
¾ These equations were • Time intervals were invariant
derived on the basis of
“common sense” ¾ These commonsense notions had to be abandoned to
explain a set of puzzling observations with regard to the
speed of light…
 Light As a Wave and Its Speed Searching for the ether:
• In 1865 James Maxwell developed a theory of ¾ If there
h is
i an ether
h throughout
h h
electromagnetism that explained the propagation of
light space that establishes the
–MMaxwell’s
ll’ th
theory predicted
di t d th
thatt lilight
ht would
ld ttravell lik
like a wave reference for the speed of light
at a speed of c = 3 x 108 m/s – Objects passing through the ether
– The Problem: would see light’s
g speed
p relative to
• W
Waves require
i a medium
di tto ttravell th
through
h
• (Can you think of examples of waves and their media)
the objects’ velocity through the
• What is the medium through which light travels? ether.
• Maxwell’s
Maxwell s theory predicted that light travels at a fixed speed – Question: What is the Earth’s
– But according to Galilean notion of space-time there is no velocity relative to the ether?
absolute definition of rest. So if light travels at a fixed speed
of c,
c it is necessary to specify c relative to some reference – This led the famous Michelson-
frame. Morley Experiment
• The Proposed Solution: • The speed of light did not depend upon
–S
Space iis fill
filled
d everywhere
h with
ith an ether
th which
hi h serves as th
the the direction of the Earth’s
Earth s motion in
medium and reference for light propagation space…

Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity For example: Time Dilation A GEDANKEN EXPERIMENT:
A ``light clock'' is constructed aboard a glass
¾ The laws of science are the same for all inertial frames spaceship (reference frame O') as follows: the
`` i k'' off the
``tick'' h clock
l k iis d defined
fi d b by one half
h lf the
h
– Thus the speed of light was the same in all frames
time interval t' required for the light from a
– This means that strobe light to traverse the width of the ship (a
• space intervals are NOT invariant height h), bounce off a mirror and come back,
• time intervals are NOT invariant a total distance of 2h. In the reference frame of
• c, the speed of light is invariant! a ground-based observer O (with respect to
¾ For example:
p ap pulse of light
g is sent from p
point A to p
point B whom the ship is travelling at a velocity u), the
li ht iis emitted
light itt d a di distance
t 2
2utt behind
b hi d th
the place
l
and is observed by two observers in two inertial frames where it is detected a time 2t later. Since the
traveling at some speed relative to each other light has further to go in the O frame (a
– In Galilean viewpoint:
p The two observers agree g on the time needed for distance =2 [( [(ut))2 + h2]1/2 ), but it travels at c in
pulse to travel from A to B, and the distance it traveled but not the both frames, t must be longer than t'. This
On spaceship: t’=h/c or h = ct’
speed of light pulse. effect is known as TIME DILATION.
On ground: t = l/c and l =[(ut)2 + h2]1/2
– In Special Relativity: The two observers agree on the speed of the light
pulse
l bbutt nott th
the di
distance
t ttraveled
l d or th
the ti
time iinterval
t l th
the lilight
ht pulse
l Each observer concludes the other observer’s
observer s clock is in error
error.
By how much?
needed to traverse the distance! l (ut ) + h
2 2
(ut ) + (ct ')2
2

t= = =
¾ In the next few pages we look at the consequences of special c c c
relativity
l ti it 1
t = t' The clock on the spaceship
and u2
1− 2 is running slower!
c
 Time Dilation
1
Time Dilation Demonstration.
Demonstration t' = t
v2
1− 2
c
http://www.walter-fendt.de/ph11e/timedilation.htm

As your frame of reference

goes faster time slows
down.

NOTE: In the equation above

above, the primed and unprimed have
been reversed. Does that matter? Is one correct and the other
incorrect?

Length Contraction Mass Increases With Velocity:

m'
m=
2
v
l' = l 1− 2
Note as v approaches
pp c, the mass becomes
2
⎡v ⎤
infinite. Since acceleration = F/m, as mass
c 1− ⎢ ⎥
becomes infinite it becomes impossible to
accelerate the object. Hence nothing can travel
faster than the speed of light!
⎣c ⎦
Mass Energy:

E = mc2
Speeding
rulers
l are
shorter!
Four Dimensional Space-Time The Light Cone:
If a rocket can travel from Earth
t Alpha
to Al h C Centauri
t i att a speed d Line of simultaneous
slower than that of light, all events for an observer
observers can agree that A moving close to the
speed of light near
precedes B, If the rocket cannot Alpha Centauri
get from A to B at a speed below
that of light
light, observers moving
at different speeds may not be
able to agree on which event
occurs first.
Line of simultaneous
events for an
observer at rest with The path of a pulse of light
respect to Earth
which passes though an event
P, forms a “cone” in space-time
called the “Future of P”; the
li ht which
light hi h will
ill pass th
throughh
Expanding Ripples
Event P forms a cone called the
Ripples on a pond as depicted in “Past of P”. All space-time can
a three-dimensional space-time
di
diagram. T
Two space andd one
then be divided in three
time coordinate. categories:
¾The Past of P
¾The Future of P
¾Elsewhere of P

Figures from a “A Brief History of

Time, Steven Hawking, Bantam, 1996

General Relativity:
Einstein s theory for gravity
Einstein’s
¾ Newton’s “Law” of Gravity A massive object causes spacetime to curve, which is often illustrated with
requires that masses the picture of a bowling ball lying on a stretched rubber sheet:
somehow exert a force on
another object at a
distance and
instantaneously.
ƒ How can that happen
¾ Einstein’s theory of
general relativity Contrary to appearance, the diagram does not depict the three-dimensional
ƒ Massive objects distort the space off everyday
d experience.
i IInstead
t d it shows
h h
how a 2 2-D
D slice
li th
through
h ffamiliar
ili
space around them through 3-D space is curved downwards when embedded in flattened hyperspace. We
gravity and this causes cannot fully envision this hyperspace. Flattening it to 3-D allows us to represent
j
objects ((while moving g in p us visualize the implications
the curvature and helps p of Einstein's General
“straight lines) to follow Theory of Relativity.
trajectories more or less
predicted by Newton’s
“Law” of Gravityy
http://www.thebigview.com/spacetime/spacetime.html
 Einstein: Developed Theories of Special and General Relativity while working Other interesting aspects of modern physics:
in obscurity as a clerk in a Swiss patent office!

• Quantum Mechanics
– The uncertainty principal:
ƒ Δp Δx > ½ h; Δp-Momentum Uncertainty Δx-Position Uncertainty
ƒ ΔE Δt > ½ h; ΔE-Energy Uncertainty Δt-Time Uncertainty
Fro more information see http://www.thebigview.com/spacetime/index.html
p g p and
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/uncer.html
– One implication: empty space is filled with matter and
antimatter …
• String
St i Theory
Th
– Matter is described as interacting strings (instead of
interacting
gpparticles))
• One implication: space actually has 10 or 26 dimensions not
3. The extra dimensions are just too small to “see.”
Later he ended up
p on the faculty
y at Princeton: – Entanglement?
So what’s more intellectually stimulating, a Swiss patent office
or the campus of an Ivy League university?

That completes our discussion of space-time and relativity.

Next
e t ttime
e we
e beg
begin to d
discuss
scuss tthe
e sc
scientific
e t c debate a
and
d
measurements that led to the general acceptance of the

Big Bang Theory