Archives for Special Theory of Relativity
Time Travel Into the Future
There are two ways that one can legitimately travel into the future. Method 1 - Moving Objects Age Slower Thanks to Einstein's work on the nature of time, there is…
The Twin Paradox – Once and for All
Check out also – Problems In Advanced Math and Physics and Rare Finds in Special and General Relativity Every science buff has heard of the Twin Paradox. Movies have been…
Teaching Relativity
Galilean Transformation - v’ = v +- V - cannot be applied to light If (x1 , t1) and (x2,t2) are two events in K, and (x1’,t1’) and (x2’,t2’) are…
Time Intervals in Special Relativity
Nothing heckles our common sense notion of 'time' more than Special Relativity. Consider a muon particle decaying as it enters the earth's atmosphere. As per the muon, it should only…
What does space-time look like from a photon’s point of view?
A frame of reference cannot 'travel at light speed'. That frame would (if it DID make it to the c) see space collapse to a point in the direction of…
Does time stop for a photon? If so, how can it move (travel)?
The photon's time doesn't 'stop' - as far as we can tell. Relativity doesn't have frames of reference moving at c, so it's not possible to define how fast time…
Rare finds in Special and General Relativity
Understanding the two theories of relativity is not just a pastime for physicists. There is something existential and comforting about imagining ‘riding on a light wave’ and how the Universe…
On the Ether
One of the things I never fully grasped in college was the ‘Michelson Morley’ experiment. I understood what it was for (proving the constancy of the speed of light) –…
Watching a Television broadcast from Earth while moving Relativistically
Imagine you are in a spaceship moving away from the earth at a velocity v. Imagine that a TV broadcast is sent to your spaceship from Earth. How would you…
Solar sails – How do they work?
Light has no mass – yet it can push solar sails. How? It is true that photons do not have "rest" mass. They do have energy - and hence an…