Announcements 11/29/10 Prayer Exam 3 starts tomorrow! Exam 3 – “What’s on the exam” handout Exam 3 review session tonight, 5 – 6:30 pm, room C261 Lab 10 due tomorrow Friday’s lecture: syllabus says “reading: website handout”. However… there is no website handout; I’ll just discuss things in class. Therefore, no reading assignment. Project final reports & “Show & Tell”—see

Reading Quiz Which was not a topic related to relativity in today’s reading assignment? a. a.“length contraction” b. b.“rest energy” c. c.“simultaneity” d. d.“time dilation” e. e.“twin paradox”

What we learned last time Einstein’s postulates Light: like sound, speed of wave doesn’t depend on speed of source Light: unlike sound, there is no medium… if source is in an enclosed train car, observer on ground will still see light waves travel at c. “Time dilation” v/cv/c 

What we learned last time, cont. Delayed observation due to time of light travel a. a.We’ll ignore, unless specifically stated in problem. b. b.I.e., if problem says “Joe measures such-and-such to occur at t = 5 s,” that means he has already accounted for that time delay somehow Twin paradox a. a.Resolved because the equations we’ll discuss only apply to inertial reference frames (no acceleration). Simultaneous events a. a.Things that happen at same time in one reference frame will NOT be simultaneous in another one. b. b.Dr. Colton with flashlights in train

Video Albert, Henry, and expanding spheres of light

Considering space travel… Dr. Colton takes his rocket (0.9 c,  = 2.29) to planet Zyzyx, 1 light year away. Earth frame: how long does it take? Earth frame: how much does Dr. Colton age? Colton frame: how much does Dr. Colton age? Colton frame: how fast was planet Zyzyx “approaching”? Do you see a problem? x=vt: t=1.11 year year 0.9 c x = vt

Length contraction Which is correct?: Dr. Colton experienced such a short trip because… a. a.time was slowed down for him b. b.the distance shrank for him

Reading quiz The length of an object measured by someone at rest with respect to the object is called the object’s: a. a.Lorentz length b. b.proper length c. c.relativistic length d. d.zeit-length The term I prefer: “rest length”

Proper time & Rest length It took Dr. Colton so little time because… a. a.time was slowed down for him b. b.the distance shrank for him Who measures Dr. Colton’s trip’s “proper time”? Who measures Dr. Colton’s trip’s “rest length”?

Barn paradox doors Barn frame: Colton frame: Dr. Colton Thought question: Does Dr. Colton fit inside the barn? a.Yes b.No c.It depends

Relativistic Doppler effect A.k.a. “Doppler effect for light” a. a.Must be relativistic, because you don’t get a measurable frequency/wavelength shift until source/observer speed is close to speed of light wave Equation, used back in HW 19-4 What do the symbols all stand for?

Relativistic Doppler effect: Derivation Source frame: after Dr. Colton hits one wave crest, how fast does the gap between him and next crest “close”? Source frame: what’s the time between wave crests for Dr. Colton? Colton frame: is the time between wave crests faster or slower than that? (and by how much?) Colton frame: therefore, time between wave crests = … v Dr. Colton source of red light waves c wavelength, frequency f v+c t = dist./vel. = s /(v+c) Faster, by factor of 

Events What’s an event? When did that happen? Where did that happen?

Space-time diagrams Example: me slamming the book on the table Example: me slamming the book on the table again. Example: measuring the time between book slams Example: measuring the length of the book “World lines” for Dr. Colton, book, & for space traveler passing by earth a. a.When/where do these events occur?