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Quiz: Or: False

The document discusses several concepts from physics, including that the speed of light in a vacuum is constant, which leads to effects like time dilation and length contraction. It provides examples of these relativity effects, such as muons surviving longer than expected due to time dilation, and that GPS requires correcting for relativity. The document suggests these concepts have real-world applications beyond being just esoteric ideas.

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shoaib
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28 views

Quiz: Or: False

The document discusses several concepts from physics, including that the speed of light in a vacuum is constant, which leads to effects like time dilation and length contraction. It provides examples of these relativity effects, such as muons surviving longer than expected due to time dilation, and that GPS requires correcting for relativity. The document suggests these concepts have real-world applications beyond being just esoteric ideas.

Uploaded by

shoaib
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Quiz: True or False

1. Length and time are absolute.


2. If we only had the technology,
spaceships could theoretically travel at
warp 2.
3. You can turn energy into matter.
4. Light is really a collection of particles.
5. Light is really a wave of electromagnetic
energy.
Quiz: True or False
6. Electrons in an atom can orbit the
nucleus at any speed or radius.
7. All laws of physics are deterministic
rather than probabilistic.
8. Relativity and quantum mechanics are
esoteric concepts which have no
application in everyday life.
9. Physics is fun and I am excited about
Professor Hoffman’s class.
Quiz: True or False
1. Length and time are absolute. F
2. If we only had the technology,
spaceships could theoretically travel at
warp 2. F
3. You can turn energy into matter. T
4. Light is really a collection of particles. T
5. Light is really a wave of electromagnetic
energy. T
Quiz: True or False
6. Electrons in an atom can orbit the
nucleus at any speed or radius. F
7. All laws of physics are deterministic
rather than probabilistic. F
8. Relativity and quantum mechanics are
esoteric concepts which have no
application in everyday life. F
9. Physics is fun and I am excited about
Professor Hoffman’s class. True, of
course.
What do we mean when we
talk about
?

"Common sense is the collection of


prejudices acquired by age eighteen."
Albert Einstein (1952)
Galilean transformations
From http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu
Experiment at rest Experiment in moving frame

Same result. Ball rises and ends up in the thrower’s hand. Ball in
the air the same length of time.
Experiment looks different from ground observer (parabolic
trajectory, speed as a function of time) and observer on the truck.
However, they both agree on the validity of Newton’s laws.
Fig. 1-1, p. 4
We have agreed that light is a wave—
right???
We all have enough common sense to know that
waves need a medium, such as water, in which
to propagate.
That medium is a reference frame which
may be:
At rest with respect to an
Moving with respect to an
observer
observer

-or-

Photo by Andrew
Davidhazy

Assume Galilean velocity


transformation holds:
Light must travel through a medium:
hypothesize that a “luminiferous ether” exists

from wikipedia

Earth is moving with respect to the ether (or the ether is moving with respect to the
earth), so there should be some directional/season dependent change in the
speed of light as observed from the reference frame of the earth.
The
The Michelson-Morley
Michelson-Morley experiment
experiment
-or-
-or-
How
How to
to win
win aa Nobel
Nobel prize
prize for
for an
an experiment
experiment that
that “failed”
“failed”
The basic idea:
if we were truly stationary but the earth is moving…
with respect to the ether: remember?
Motion along Arm 1:

Motion along Arm 2:


The real gizmo

Light travels very fast so you are


looking at very subtle difference-
use several passes to multiply
the effect.
Need to select light of a
particular frequency to detect
any shift.
Q: Can anyone guess why the invention of lasers made the Michelson-Morley
experiment more convincing?
#6 quiz question being false. We will talk about that later in the course.
A: Because lasers emit light with a precise wavelength. This is a consequence of the
The Solution???

The speed of light in vacuum has


the same value, c=300000000 m/s,
in all inertial reference frames,
regardless of the velocity of the
observer or the velocity of the
source emitting the light.
Oh my
goodness…how
can that be
right???

All the laws of physics have the same form in all inertial
reference frames.
Alright…we know that Newtonian mechanics worked in all inertial reference
frames under Galilean transformations, but does the same hold true for
Maxwell’s equations of electromagnetism?
The radical consequences
distance traveled (in units of
Speed = length)
time elapsed

If the speed of light is a constant…then…


length and time must be variables??
These effects are known as length contraction and time
dilation.
How come you never noticed this before, and how come
most of the time I can get away with Galilean
transformations in your calculations?

speed of light = 670 616 629 miles per hour

Most of the time the speed of the object whose motion you are
calculating is do slow relative to the speed of light that the
discrepancy due to relativity is negligible. (Most, but not all of
Consider two clocks:
Time dilation
At rest with
One moving with
respect to each
speed v:
other:

Moving clocks run slow

cT/2
cT/2 d d

vT/2

cT’/2=d (vT/2)^2+d^2=(cT/2)^2
T=2d/(c*sqrt(1-v^2/c^2))

Using: cT’/2=d

T=T’/sqrt(1-v^2/c^2)

This is because the blue clock travels a greater difference in


the red clock’s frame of reference, and in both frames of
reference the speed of light is the same.

Food for thought: which clock appears to be traveling the


greater distance in the blue clock’s frame of reference?

Q: From the blue clock’s perspective, which clock runs


slower? A: The red clock.
Q: From the red clock’s perspective, which clock runs slower?
A: The blue clock.
Do we have a paradox?
Gamma is always greater
than one!

Note asymptotic behavior.


Simultaneity
The Facts as we know them now:

•In both frames the light travels a distance 2d, according to


a stationary observer in that frame.
•In both frames the clock “ticks” at the same rate
according to an observer in that frame.
•In each frame, a stationary observer in that frame
perceives the path of the light to be longer in the other
frame.

Conclusion: to a stationary observer in one frame,


the light pulse left the laser/bulb at an earlier time
in the other frame.
The paradox can be avoided by noting that:
Simultaneity is not an absolute concept! It depends
on the point of view of the observer.
Another Consequence: Length
Contraction
We can measure length by measuring the amount of time it
takes to travel from one end of the object to another at a
particular velocity…
as a matter of fact, the meter was officially redefined in 1983
as the distance traveled by light in a vacuum in
1/299,792,458 of a second.
…but the time it takes for this travel is different depending
on your frame of reference.---length is contracted!!

Time always runs slower when measured by an


observer moving with respect to the clock.
The length of an object is always shorter when viewed
by an observer who is moving with respect to the
object.
The proper length of an object is defined as the length
of an object measured by someone who is at rest with
respect to the object.
Is this science fiction?
Muons, heavy cousins of the Global positioning systems use
electron, have a mean lifetime of signals from clocks on board
2.2 microseconds. They are satellites to pinpoint your position.
created when cosmic rays interact
in the atmosphere. If it were not
for length contraction/time
dilation, they would not survive
long enough to reach earth—but
they do.

Are GPS satellites moving fast enough


that you need to account for special
relativity in order to make an accurate
measurement?
The answer is yes.
IceCube

http://www.icecube.wisc.edu/
Tune in next time when we
discuss

Life in the fast lane:


the kinematics of Star Trek

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