RELATIVITY

Quiz (½ crosswise)1-2. Who were the scientists (just provide their last names) who performed an experiment using an interferometer to determine the existence of the ether?3. What year did the scientists in nos. 1 and 2 perform their experiment?4. What is an interferometer used for?5. Who derived the transformation equations, now used in the theory of relativity?6. In what year did Einstein publish his work on relativity?7-8. Enumerate the two postulates of Einstein in the Special Theory of Relativity9-10. Give two consequences of Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Events and Measurements

Simultaneity

The Relativity of SimultaneityA railroad car traveling to the right with velocity v.

The Relativity of SimultaneityExploding firecrackers as seen in two different reference frames.

The Relativity of SimultaneityExploding firecrackers as seen in two different reference frames.

The Relativity of SimultaneityThe real sequence of events in Peggy’s reference frame.

The Relativity of Simultaneity

Time Dilation

Length Contraction

Serway P39.11A spaceship with a proper length of 300 m takes 0.750 µs to pass an Earth observer. Determine the speed of this spaceship as measured by the Earth observer.

Serway P39.17A friend passes by you in a spaceship traveling at a high speed. He tells you that his ship is 20.0 m long and that the identically constructed ship you are sitting in is 19.0 m long. According to your observations, (a) how long is your ship, (b) how long is your friend’s ship, and (c) what is the speed of your friend’s ship?