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Einstein’s theory of special relativity created a fundamental link between space and time. The universe can be viewed as having three space dimensions — up/down, left/right, forward/backward — and one time dimension. This 4-dimensional space is referred to as the space-time continuum.
- Intuition and Key Concepts Behind Special Relativity
- The Concept of Spacetime: What Is It?
- Lorentz Transformations and Lorentz Invariance
- Four-Vectors: The Mathematical Language of Special Relativity
- Relativistic Laws of Motion
To get started, we need to take a look at what the logic and principles behind special relativity actually is. Now, special relativity is practically based on two principles known as the postulates of special relativity. These postulates are as follows: 1. The laws of physics must be the same in all inertial reference frames (this is also the case ...
To keep the speed of light constant in all inertial frames, we’ll quickly run into problems, such as the addition of velocities, which we won’t get into the semantics of. The point here is that what we call ordinary Galilean relativity (i.e. transforming and comparing reference frames according to ordinary Newtonian physics), can not be quite corre...
Up to this point, I’ve mentioned the concept of invariancequite a bit, but not actually explained or defined it in detail. That’s what we’re going to do next. The goal is to essentially be able to compare measured quantities in different reference frames, meaning to transform from one frame to another and if a quantity remains the same after this t...
Before we get started on any of the relativistic dynamics, we have to go over the concept of a 4-vector. Simply put, a 4-vector is a vector with four components (in relativity, it could be t, x, y and z), which means that it is a 4-dimensional vector. If we compare this to a regular 3-dimensional vector in Newtonian physics (which may have componen...
Now, special relativity isn’t fundamentally about time dilation, length contraction, twin paradoxes or any of the weird phenomena associated with it, like it is sometimes presented. It is rather about redefining the fundamental laws of physics in terms of quantities that transform according to Lorentz transformations (i.e. the speed of light is kep...
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Jan 26, 2017 · 7 years ago. 31 Min. 0. Wikimedia. Don’t be scared. As complex as the theory of relativity seems to be, it’s surprisingly simple. In this short article, we will explain what Einstein proposes...
This course will introduce you to the concepts behind special relativity including, but not limited to, length contraction, time dilation, the Lorentz transformation, relativistic kinematics, Doppler shifts, and even so-called “paradoxes.”
