M7 Special Relativity Flashcards
What are Albert’s 2 postulates?
1 - laws of physics are the same in all inertial frames of reference
**2 - **The speed of light is the same for all observers, regardless of motion of observer or source
Breifly explain the Michelson-Morley experiment
, conducted in 1887, aimed to detect the presence of ‘aether’ by measuring differences in the speed of light due to the Earth’s motion.
However, they observed no shift, indicating that the speed of light is constant in all directions .
How does the Michelson-Morley affrim Einsteins postulates
provides crucial evidence by failing to detect any difference in the speed of light due to the Earth’s motion through the “aether,” affriming that the laws of physics, are the same in all inertial frames.
Explain time dilation
time passes slower for an obersver in motion compared to an obersver at rest, this is significant at speeds close to speed of light
Explain Length Contraction
objects in motion are observed to be shorter in the direction of motion, from the perspective of a stationary observer.
Explain the atomic clock experiement that verifyies time dilation
Two sets of atomic clocks were used: one remained on the ground, while the other was flown on commercial jets. After the flights, the airborne clocks showed a difference in elapsed time compared to the ground-based clocks.
demonstrating that time slows down for objects moving at high speeds, verifying the time dilation effect.
Which of the following are reasonably good inertial frames of reference?
An aircraft in steady flight
An aircraft taking off
A car turning a corner
A car driving up a hill of constant slope at a constant velocity
An aircraft in steady flight
A car driving up a hill of constant slope at a constant velocity
Explain relativistic momentum
In relativistic momentum, as an object’s speed approaches the speed of light, its momentum increases significantly due to the Lorentz factor, which grows dramatically. Consequently, no object with mass can reach the speed of light, as this would require infinite momentum and energy.
