Special Relativity Flashcards
What does the speed of light in a medium depend on?
The magnetic and electrical properties of that medium
What is an inertial frame of reference?
One that is not accelerating
Either stationary or moving at a constant speed
What does the principal of relativity state?
That laws of motion are the same in all inertial frames of reference
What is the proper length of an object?
The length measured by an observer at rest relative to that object.
What is proper time?
The time interval between two events occurring at one place in an inertial time frame, as measured by an observer in that time frame.
What is time dilation?
The time interval measured between two events occurring at the different locations in an inertial frame will be greater than proper time.
What is length contraction?
When observers measure a moving object as being shorter in the direction of relative motion as compared to when that object is at rest.
What is the principal of non-simultaneity?
Simultaneous events in one inertial frame may not be the simultaneous in another inertial frame.
What is rest/proper mass?
Mass as measured in an inertial frame of reference in which the object is stationary.
Relativistic mass increases as…
The velocity of the object increases in its reference frame
The relativistic energy of an object that is moving is defined by
Total energy= rest energy+ relativistic energy
What is relativistic mass?
Mass measured in a reference frame that is moving relative to the frame in which the rest mass was measured.
