🔖 Topics

  • Speed of light
  • Galilean relativity
  • Principle of relativity
  • Background for special relativity
  • Correspondence principle

🎯 Objectives

  • Describe the idea behind Galilean relativity and calculate relative speeds in different reference frames.
  • Talk about why Galilean relativity breaks down when one considers the speed of light.
  • Talk about how the assumptions of special relativity are different than those of Galilean relativity.
  • Describe the Correspondence principle and how it links classical relativity with special relativity.

📋 Sequence

  • Galilean relativity: \(\vec{v}_{AC} = \vec{v}_{AB} + \vec{v}_{BC}\)
  • Constant speed of light in a vacuum
  • The Michelson – Morley experiment
  • The Principle of Relativity - the laws of physics are the same in every inertial reference frame
  • New assumptions for special relativity
  • Special relativity is not the same as general relativity
    • No gravitational fields
    • No “weird” objects like black holes
    • We will not consider accelerating frames in this class

🖥️ Animations, Simulations, Activities

N/A

📝 Practice Problems

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✅ Partial Solutions

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📘 Connected Resources

  • Giambattista, Alan, et al. College Physics With an Integrated Approach to Forces and Kinematics. 5th ed., McGraw-Hill Education, 2020.