Relativity -1 Special Relativity After Newton and his mechanics, after Maxwell and his E&M, came three great revolutionary new theories of the 20th century. Albert Einstein was responsible for 2 and one-quarter of these theories. 1) Special Relativity, a theory of space and time (Einstein 1905) 2) General Relativity, a theory of gravity (Einstein, 1916) 3) Quantum Mechanics, a theory of the behavior of atoms (Planck, Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg, Schrodinger, Born, Dirac, Pauli, …, 1900-1928) Comment about the word "theory": In science, the word "theory" means "a self-consistent model which is consistent with all known experimental facts and which makes specific predictions which can be tested by further experiment." This is a very different meaning than the common use of the word : In street talk, the word "theory" seems to mean "conjecture" or "some random notion", as in "it's just a theory". This is exactly the opposite of the meaning of the word in science: In science, a "theory" is the most complete, reliable form of knowledge (about the physical universe) that we possess. Special Relativity is based on 2 postulates (axioms) I. All the laws of physics are in the same in every inertial frame of reference. Inertial frame = one moving at constant velocity = one which is not accelerating, not rotating. II. (the weird one). The speed of light is the same for all observers regardless of the motion of the observer or the motion of the source of the light. Postulate I says that there is no way to determine the velocity of your inertial frame, except by comparing your motion to the motion of other bodies. Relative velocity is meaningful; absolute velocity has no meaning. Example: two space ships drift by each other in intergalactic space. Who's to say which one is moving and which one is at rest? The only meaningful statement that can be made is that they are moving relative to each other. Postulate II just seems crazy. It says that c = 3×108 m/s for everyone, no matter what. Last update: 4/22/2007 Dubson Phys2020 Notes, ©University of ColoradoRelativity -2 How can all these different observers, moving relative to each other, all measure the same speed for light? Something has to give. What gives is our "common-sense" notions of time and space. Special relativity says that the different observers do not agree on how fast time is passing and they also do not agree on how far apart things are. Since speed = distance/time, measurement of speed always involves measurements of distance and time. The laws of electricity & magnetism (Maxwell's equations) led Einstein to these postulates. Maxwell's equations predict that the speed of light is 8oo1c31==×µ ε0m/s, always! Maxwell's equations give no mention of the motion of the source or observer. Pre-relativity physicists interpreted this situation (wrongly!) like this: Suppose I send out a light ray, at speed c, and then I chase the ray at nearly the speed c. "Obviously", in my moving reference frame, I will then observe "slow light". In this moving frame, in which there is slow light (v < c), Maxwell's Equations can't be valid, since they predict that light has speed v = c. There must be a special reference frame, a "still space" frame, in which Maxwell's equations are valid and light has speed c. (Remember: this is all wrong. I'm just telling you how pre-relativity physicists light source light ray v = ¾ c observer 2 (moving toward the source at speed ¾ c)"the light has speed c, not 1 ¾ c" observer 1 (at rest relative to source) "the light has speed c" * light beam v = 0 v = ¾ c observer 2 observer 1 (at rest relative to nearby stars) (in a rocket moving at v = ¾ c relative to nearby stars) "the light has speed c, not 1 ¾ c" "the light from my headlight has speed c"Last update: 4/22/2007 Dubson Phys2020 Notes, ©University of ColoradoRelativity -3 thought.) Light in space must be like sound in air. The speed of sound is 345 m/s relative to the still air; likewise it must be that the speed of light is c, relative to still space. In the 19th century, physicists imagined that space was filled with a mysterious substance, the "aether" (or "ether"), through which light traveled like sound through air. There were two serious problems with this old view: 1) It contradicted experiment. No slow light was ever observed. Two scientists named Michelson and Morley built a device designed to detect changes in the speed of light due to the motion of the earth around the sun, through the aether. The Michelson-Morley experiment gave a null result; they found no changes in the speed of light. The MM expt has been called "the most important null result in the history of science". 2) There was no consistent theory of slow light. Theorists were unable to modify Maxwell's equations so that they would produce sensible results in frames moving relative to the aether. The solution to this conundrum was provided by Albert Einstein, age 26, in 1905. Einstein said: There is nothing wrong with Maxwell's equations; they work in all inertial reference frames; so the prediction that the speed of light is always c is correct. The problem is with our usual concepts of space and time. Definition: event = location + time = (x, y, z, t) The same event can be observed from different reference frames:(x, y, z, t) vs. (x', y', z', t') "Classical" or Galilean transformation relates (x, y, t) to (x', y', t') : Moving frame S' Rest frame S (speed v relative to S) y' y x' = x – v⋅t y' = y t' = t x an event The Galilean transformation is correct ithe limit v << c, but is wrong for larg( t ≠ t' ) n e v x'x x' v⋅t (origins coincide at t = 0) Last update: 4/22/2007 Dubson Phys2020 Notes, ©University of ColoradoRelativity -4 In the classical (non-relativistic) view, everyone experiences the same time ( t = t' ) regardless of their speed. But Postulate II requires that time is different in different frames of reference (t ≠ t' ). Einstein showed that the notion of simultaneity is not absolute. Events that are simultaneous in one reference frame are not simultaneous in other reference frames. Definition: Two events are simultaneous if they occur at the same time but in different locations. Events simultaneous in S are not simultaneous in S' as the following thought experiment shows. Suppose a flash bulb goes off in the center of a moving train car. In the frame of the train car (the "train frame"), light reaches the front and
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