MODULE 7

Theory of Special Relativity

PRESENTED BY: GROUP 1
 BEGIN !!
Did you know that everything is
moving? Even you, as you are sitting
perfectly still, because the earth is
moving, and the sun and the galaxy,
and so forth. Everything is moving
relative to everything else.
 Relativity connects time and space, space and time,
even electricity and magnetism - making it possible
for scientists to have a better understanding of the
physical universe. In this module, you will learn about
Special Relativity and discover how it resolved the
conflict between Newtonian Mechanics and Maxwell's
Electromagnetic Theory. Who formulated the Theory
of Special Relativity? What makes this theory special?

Find out in this lesson.

 KEEP THIS IN
MIND
Newtonian or classical mechanics dealt with the motion of the
objects of typical size around us including the force that causes
these motions. The concepts under Newtonian mechanics are
mainly based on postulates of Newton about motion which
correctly describes the state of motion of an object whether at
rest or moving in a straight path and the forces that maintain and
can cause changes in the body's states of motion.
 Galileo and Newton were aware of what we
call today the relativity principle. The
Galilean-Newtonian relativity assumes that:

1. Space and time are absolute, their

measurement doesn't change from one
reference frame to another.

2. Position and speed/velocity of an object are

different when specified in different reference
frames.
On the other hand, Maxwell's electromagnetic theory consists of four formulas
gathered from the different works of Faraday and other physicists that unites
all the concepts of electricity and magnetism and had the findings that electric
and magnetic fields spread as waves. In 1886, Hertz proved that these waves
really exist and the propagation speed of these waves can be calculated using
the formula:

where:

c is the speed of light

0 is the electric field constant
μ_0 is the magnetic field constant
Maxwell observed that the value of the above expression is
equivalent to the speed of light c (3.0 x 10 m/s) which implies that
speed of light c must also be constant. This is where the conflict
between Newtonian mechanics and Maxwell's theory starts.

Based on Maxwell's calculation, the electromagnetic (EM) wave can travel only
at one speed (the speed of light is fixed) and there's no provision for different
frames of reference such as ether. If Newtonian mechanics was applied, it was
assumed that light would have a different speed in different frames of
reference. But it appeared that Maxwell's equations did not satisfy the
relativity principle (that the laws of physics are the same in all inertial frames
and that all inertial frames of reference are equivalent). The equations were not
the same in all inertial reference frames, and seemed to single out one
reference frame that was better than any other. This reference frame that is
one that is absolutely at rest in the ether (absolute space).
 Now, read and study on how Einstein's Special Relativity resolved the conflict between
Newtonian Mechanics and Maxwell's Electromagnetic Theory.

How Einstein reconciled classical mechanics and electromagnetism

He imagined rifling a light beam. What he would see are alternating electric and magnetic
fields at rest whose magnitude changed in space but did not change in time. Einstein
realized that such fields were not consistent with the electromagnetic theory. He then
thought it would be unreasonable to think that the speed of light relative to any observer
could be reduced to zero, or change at all.
Einstein concluded that the inconsistencies in Maxwell's theory were due to the idea of the
ether and the assumption of an absolute space, and proposed to completely discard these
ideas.
Einstein's theory of special relativity explains the problems
that involve motion of frames of reference at constant linear velocity
with respect to one another.

Einstein's theory was based on two postulates:

1)
The laws of Physics are the same in all inertial frames of reference moving with
constant velocity relative to one another. The laws of physics do not change, even
for objects moving in inertial frames of reference. For example, when you were in a
jeepney that's travelling at a constant speed, the exact same thing would happen to you if
you were just sitting on the surface of the Earth. In both reference frames (car and Earth),
you do not move, which shows that the laws of physics acted exactly the same.
Einstein's theory of special relativity explains the problems
that involve motion of frames of reference at constant linear velocity
with respect to one another.

Einstein's theory was based on two postulates:

2)
The speed of light is the same in all inertial frames of reference.
The speed of light is the same for all observers, regardless of their motion
relative to the light source. Thus, an observer traveling toward a light source
would perceive light to be traveling at 3.0 x 108 m/s. An observer who is not
moving with respect to the source would see light to be traveling at the speed
of light (3.0 x 108 m/s). Regardless of the speed of the source of light and
speed of the observer, the speed of light remains the same.
The second postulate clearly tells that Maxwell's idea is correct but does it mean
Newtonian mechanics is wrong? Not totally, but the postulates of Einstein tell us
that Newtonian mechanics has limitations in terms of its application.
If we consider moving objects with speed very small compared to the speed of
light, Newtonian mechanics applies like the speeds of a flying ball and running
car. However, if we consider speeds that is close to the speed of light a new
concept must be included in order to supply the limit of Newtonian mechanics
and that is the Lorentz transformation the counterpart of Galilean
transformation of the Newtonian mechanics , expressed as:
WORD BANK
The following terms used in this module are defined as follows:

Inertial Frame of Reference

- a frame of reference that is either at rest or moving at a constant velocity.
Postulate
- a thing suggested or assumed to be true as the basis for reasoning, discussion
or belief.
Relativity
- the observation of the motion of a body by two different observers in relative
motion to each other.
THANK YOU!!