Learning Guides 5 and 6 Flashcards
A “frame of reference” said to propagate light and other electromagnetic waves
Ether
Detected earth’s motion at an ether sea; the speed of light in empty space is the same
Albert Michelson and Edward Morley
The laws of nature are independent of the state of motion of the frame of reference, as long as the latter is acceleration free.
Inertia
Speed of light in free space is the only measure of space and time that is reliably constant from one observer to another; all else is relative.
Postulates of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity
Formula that shows the relationship of mass, energy, and the speed of light
E = mc^2
Proposed that under certain circumstances, light can be considered as consisting of particles (photoelectric effect)
Einstein
The energy carried by any light particle; proportional to the frequency of radiation and is expressed in E = hf
Photon
Units in which energy within a light beam are transferred
Quanta
Einstein’s third paper that features what became known as the special theory of relativity
“On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies”
A postulate that gravitational fields are equivalent to accelerations of the frame of reference
Principle of Equivalence
Published in 1916; states that interactions of bodies ascribed to gravitational forces are explained as the influence of bodies on geometry of a four-dimensional space (called space-time)
General Theory of Relativity
A German physicist and Nobel laureate who was the originator of the quantum theory
Max Planck
Discrete packets that introduced the particle nature of light
Quanta
Value of Planck’s constant
h = 6.626 x 10^-34 Joule-second
Characterized by a light hitting a metal makes the metal emit electrons
Photoelectric effect
Theory that features the concepts of the uncertainty principle and wave-particle duality of light
Quantum Theory
A French physicist and Nobel laureate who found that both matter and energy are composed of corpuscles (particles) and are moving in waves
Louis de Broglie
A British physicist who has pioneer works on nuclear physics; theorized on the structure of the atom
Ernest Rutherford
A very small location in which the positive charge of the atom must be concentrated into
Atomic nucleus
Theorized on the atomic structure; his model made use of the quantum theory and Planck’s constant, positing that an atom emits electromagnetic radiation only when an electron in the atom jumps from one quantum level to another
Niels Bohr
Solid Sphere model in 1803
John Dalton
Plum Pudding model in 1904
J.J. Thomson
Nuclear model in 1911
Ernest Rutherford
Planetary model in 1913
Niels Bohr
