Term
| Is there any way, when you are confined within an inertial reference frame, to know whether it is you who are moving or the Other that is moving? |
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Definition
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Term
| informal statement of the principle of relativity |
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Definition
| The laws of physics are the same inside a laboratory moving at a constant speed as they are in a laboratory at rest. |
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Term
| Who was the first to state the principle of relativity? |
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Definition
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Term
| On what basic principle is Einstein's theory or relativity founded? |
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Definition
| The principle of relativity |
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Term
| How did Einstein revolutionize Galileo's relativity theory? |
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Definition
| He said that it applies to ALL the laws of physics, especially the laws of electromagnetism. |
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Term
| What is the priciple of relativity? |
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Definition
| It is a postulate; it cannot be proved beyond a doubt. It has not been disproved yet, however. |
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Term
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Definition
| An event is any physical occurrence that we can consider to happen at a definite place in space and at a definite instant in time. |
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Term
| definition: spacetime coordinates |
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Definition
| we can quantify an event with 4 numbers- i.e. spacetime coordinates=3 numbers that specify the location of the event in some 3 dimensional spatial coordinate system and 1 number that specifies what thime the event occured. |
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Term
| How do we quantify motion of an object? |
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Definition
| by treating it as a series of events |
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Term
| operational definition of spacetime coordinates |
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Definition
| one attaches a clock to each intersection of time and space within the 3 dimensional spacial coordinate system to get a space time coordinate system |
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Term
| Why is it important to have a clock at every lattice intersection? |
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Definition
| if we attempt to read the time of an event by using a clock located a substantial distance away, we need to make assumptions about how long it took the information that the event has occurred to reach that distant clock. |
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Term
| definition: reference frame |
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Definition
| is a rigid cubical lattice of appropriately synchronized clocks or its functional equivalent. |
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Term
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Definition
| a (possibly hypothetical) person who interprets measurements made in a reference frame |
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Term
| inertial vs. noninertial frames |
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Definition
| An inertial frame is one in which an isolated object is always and everywhere observed to move at a constant velocity(as required by Newton's first law). in a noninertial frame, such an object is observed to move with a nonconstant velocity in at least some situations. |
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Term
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Definition
| Electrical "fingers" hold a ball in place within a spherical detector. When the ball is released, it should remain at rest by Newton's first law; if it does not, the frame to which the detector container is attached is noninertial. |
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Term
| some consequences that follow from the definition of inertial frames |
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Definition
| Any inertial reference frame will be observed to move at a constant velocity relative to any other inertial reference frame. Conversely, a rigid, nonrotating reference frame that moves at a constant velocity with respect to any other inertial reference frame must itself be inertial. |
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Term
| formal statement of the principle of relativity |
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Definition
| The laws of physics are the same in all inertial reference frames |
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Term
| newtonian approach to clock synchronization |
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Definition
| time is absolute and flows equable without regard to anything external. Therefore, we can use 1 master clock to synchronize the other clocks. consequence=galilean transformation equations |
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Term
| Galilean transformation equations |
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Definition
position: x'= x - ßt
velocity: v'= v - ß
acceleration: a'= a |
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Term
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Definition
| An object's acceleration is the same in all inertial reference frames |
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Term
| "the laws of physics are them same" in different reference frames |
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Definition
| Observers in different inertial frames may disagree about the values of various quantities (particularly positions and velocities), but each observer will agree that if one takes the mathematical equation describing a physical law (such as Newton's second law) and plugs in the values measured in that observer's frame, one will always find that the equation is satisfied. |
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