122
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 58:
Line 58: + +
Special theory of relativity (view source)
Revision as of 02:27, April 29, 2009
, 02:27, April 29, 2009→Interpretation and paradoxes
Special relativity alters [[Isaac Newton]]'s laws of motion by assuming that the speed of light will be the same for all observers, despite their relative velocities and the source of the light. (Therefore, if A sends a beam of light to B, and both measure the speed, it will be the same for both, no matter what the relative velocity of A and B. In Newtonian/Galilean mechanics, If A sends a physical object at a particular velocity towards B, and nothing slows it, the velocity of the object relative to B depends on the velocities of the object and of B relative to A.)
Special relativity alters [[Isaac Newton]]'s laws of motion by assuming that the speed of light will be the same for all observers, despite their relative velocities and the source of the light. (Therefore, if A sends a beam of light to B, and both measure the speed, it will be the same for both, no matter what the relative velocity of A and B. In Newtonian/Galilean mechanics, If A sends a physical object at a particular velocity towards B, and nothing slows it, the velocity of the object relative to B depends on the velocities of the object and of B relative to A.)
In the framework of SRT several thought experiments can be constructed, which lead to paradoxes. The most striking one is the twin paradoxon. If you take twins, one on earth, and one in traveling to the next star with high speed and back, their biological age will not be the same, even though you could redefine the system of the traveling twin to be resting. This paradoxon is resolved when you consider that the trjectory of the second twin does not fulfill the condition on beeing in an inertial frame, because he is accelerated. This points out, that while neglected in SRT, acceleration has a non-trivial role, which is considered in the General theory of relativity.