Special relativity

Announcements:
•  Homework solutions will soon be
CULearn
•  Homework set 1 returned today.
•  Homework #2 is due today.
•  Homework #3 is posted – due
next Wed.
•  First midterm is 2 weeks from Christian Doppler
tomorrow. (1803—1853)
Today we will investigate the relativistic
Doppler effect and look at momentum and
energy.
http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 1
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http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 2

Clicker question 4 last lecture Set frequency to AD
A spacecraft travels at speed v=0.5c relative to the
Earth. It launches a missile in the forward direction
at a speed of 0.5c. How fast is the missile moving
relative to Earth?
This actually uses the
A.  0
inverse transformation:
B.  0.25c
C.  0.5c Have to keep signs straight. Depends on
D.  0.8c which way you are transforming. Also,
E.  c the velocities can be positive or negative!
Best way to solve these is to figure out if the speeds
add or subtract and then use the appropriate formula.
Since the missile if fired forward in the spacecraft frame, the
spacecraft and missile velocities add in the Earth frame.

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 3

 Velocity addition works with light too!
A Spacecraft moving at 0.5c relative
to Earth sends out a beam of light in
the forward direction. What is the
light velocity in the Earth frame?

What about if it sends the light out in the backward direction?

It works. We get the same speed of light no matter what!

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 4

 Relativistic Doppler Effect
•  Train (frame S’)
traveling at speed v
relative to the ground
(frame S). Headlight
from train is a source
of light with frequency
fsource. Observer is on
the ground at rest in The time between emission of
front of the train + we two crests is given by Δt.
want to determine the During this time first crest will
move a distance cΔt, but the
observed frequency,
train will move a distance vΔt.
fobs.
Distance between successive crests is
therefore λ = cΔt – vΔt (As seen from S)
http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 5
 Doppler cont.

•  Since all crests are

approaching at speed c,
the frequency seen by
observer Q, fobs , is

fobs = c/λ = c/(c-v)Δt = 1/(1-β)Δt

€

Now fsrc = 1/Δt’, hence

Δt is time between successive crests
as measured in S, but Δt = γ Δt’ with
Δt’ being the proper time between two fobs = fsrc/[ γ(1-β)]
crests, since they occur at same
1/γ =√(1-β2 = √(1-β)(1+β)
place in S’.

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 6

 Relativistic Doppler shift
The speed of light is the same
for all inertial observers

However, the wavelength and frequency

change based on relative velocity
For a source moving toward an observer:

For a source moving away switch + and -

It does not matter if it is the source

or the observer that is moving; only
the relative velocity matters.

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 7

 Clicker question 1 Set frequency to AD
An alien on his spaceship sends a laser beam toward Earth
using a special green laser pointer. The people on Earth
observe a yellow light from the alien spaceship. Is the
spaceship moving toward or away from Earth?
A. Spaceship is headed to Earth
B. Spaceship is headed away from Earth
C. Impossible to tell

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 8

 Clicker question 1 Set frequency to AD
An alien on his spaceship sends a laser beam toward Earth
using a special green laser pointer. The people on Earth
observe a yellow light from the alien spaceship. Is the
spaceship moving toward or away from Earth?
A. Spaceship is headed to Earth
B. Spaceship is headed away from Earth
C. Impossible to tell

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 9

 Relativistic Doppler shift
Since c is constant For approaching source,
and c=λf then λ is shorter – blueshift

For receding source,

In 1929 Hubble showed the velocity of λ is longer – redshift
galaxies (measured using redshift) was
proportional to distance. First evidence
for the Big Bang theory.

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 10

 Relativistic Doppler shift

Used to measure velocity in

police and baseball radar guns.

Used in Doppler radar

to measure the speed
of the air/rain.

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 11

 Moving from kinematics to dynamics
In Physics 1110 we began by discussing velocities and
accelerations and called this kinematics.
Then we moved to Newton’s laws of motion which tells us that
it is force that causes acceleration. This is called dynamics.
Finally, we used conservation of momentum and conservation
of energy to avoid the complication of calculating accelerations
(as long as we had an isolated system).

Let’s start thinking about momentum:

Classically, momentum is p=mu where we continue using
u to represent the velocity of an object while v represents
the velocity of a frame.
What we really need momentum for is to use conservation
of momentum on problems like collisions and explosions.
http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 12
 Conservation of momentum
Conservation of momentum states that
for an isolated system (no net force):
What if we observe this isolated system in a different inertial
reference frame? Using Galilean transformations we get (in 1D)
so that

This just says that the momentum changes by the

mass of the system times the relative velocity v.
The velocity between these two inertial reference frames
(v) is constant and mass is constant so if momentum is
conserved in one inertial reference frame (Ptotal) then it is
conserved in all inertial reference frames (P′total).

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 13

 Conservation of momentum
But we know that the Galilean transformations are not correct
at high velocity. If we apply the correct transformations we find
that if momentum is conserved in one reference frame it is not
necessarily conserved in other inertial reference frames.
So we need a new definition of momentum.

We defined momentum as

We know that Δt depends on which inertial frame you are in but

there is one time that stays the same: the proper time. This is the
time measured in the rest frame and we will know call it tau (Δτ).
We try and remember time dilation:

This gives us:

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 14

 Conservation of momentum
So the relativistic momentum is:

Note the addition of a subscript on γ.

Our previous use of γ was to relate between two different

frames with a relative velocity of v. In contrast, γu is
associated with a particle. If we measure p=γumu in one
inertial frame we can convert the momentum to another
inertial reference frame moving with speed v which will
introduce another γ which we should probably call γv.

It should be clear by context which one we are talking

about so I will probably drop the subscript after a while.

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 15

 Clicker question 2 Set frequency to AD

A B

Particle A has half the mass but twice the speed of particle B.
If the particles’ momenta are pA and pB, then

A. pA > pB
B. pA = pB
C. pA < pB

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 16

 Clicker question 2 Set frequency to AD

A B

Particle A has half the mass but twice the speed of particle B.
If the particles’ momenta are pA and pB, then

A. pA > pB Classically, both particles

B. pA = pB have the same momentum.
C. pA < pB
γu is bigger for the faster particle.

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 17

 Momentum transformation and energy
Using the old momentum and Galilean
transformation to get from S to S′ frame:
Using the relativistic momentum and the correct velocity we find:

Since v and γv are constants, in order to have conservation of

momentum in each frame, the quantity γum must also be constant.

What other quantity is conserved when no external forces act?

Energy!
γum has units of mass (kg); to give it units of energy,
can multiply by c2 (which we know is constant).
So let us postulate that energy is
http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 18
 Energy
Total energy of an object moving at speed u is
What do we get for the total energy when an object is at rest?
At rest, γu=1 so the rest energy is Maybe you have
heard of this
Furthermore, we can define kinetic energy one before?☺
as the total energy minus the rest energy:

Remember the binomial

(for small β)
approximation for γ is
Using this on the kinetic
energy gives:

So we get the correct kinetic energy at low speed.

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 19
 Clicker question 3 Set frequency to AD
Which of the graphs below is a possible representation
of the total energy of a particle versus its speed
E
E

A. B.

u u
c c
E E

C. D.
u u
c c
E. None of them

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 20

 Clicker question 3 Set frequency to AD
Which of the graphs below is a possible representation
of the total energy of a particle versus its speed
E
E

A. B.

u u As the velocity u
c c increases towards
E E c, the energy
increases. But for
C. D. u→c, γ→∞ so it is
impossible for a
u u particle to reach c
c c as it would need
E. None of them infinite energy.

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 21

 Clicker question 4 Set frequency to AD
At what speed is the total energy of a particle equal to twice its
rest mass energy?
A. 0
B. 0.7c
C. 0.87c
D. 0.94c
E. c

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 22

 Clicker question 4 Set frequency to AD
At what speed is the total energy of a particle equal to twice its
rest mass energy?
A. 0
B. 0.7c To have total energy equal to twice
the rest mass energy, need γ=2
C. 0.87c
D. 0.94c Solve for β.
E. c

so you need to be moving pretty fast to get your

kinetic energy close to your rest mass energy!

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys2170/ Physics 2170 – Fall 2013 23