WEEKLY LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEETS

Physical Science Quarter 2 Week 6

THE SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY

Name: ___________________________________________ Section: ____________________

Learning Competency:
• Explain how special relativity resolved the conflict between Newtonian mechanics and
Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory (S11/12PS-IVi-j-69)
Specific Learning Objectives:
• Describe Galilean-Newtonian relativity.
• Explain Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory.
• Explain how special relativity resolved the conflict between Newtonian mechanics and
Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory
Time Allotment: 1 week

Key Concepts

• Frame of reference refers to a vantage point from which a motion is being observed and
measured.
• Newtonian or classical mechanics talks about the observable motion of normal sized
objects including the force that causes these motions. The ideas under Newtonian
mechanics are based on Newton’s ideas about motion which describes the state of motion
of an object whether moving in a straight path or at rest, and the forces that can cause
changes and maintain the body’s states of motion.
• According to the principle of the Galilean relativity, in all inertial frames of reference, the
laws of mechanics must be the same. Inertial frames of reference are those in which the
Newton’s laws are valid, where objects move in straight lines at constant speed or at rest
unless acted on by a nonzero net force. Thus, the name “inertial frame” because objects
observed at these frames obey the first Newton’s law, the “law of inertia”.
• In a room that is at rest, any observations done in this frame of reference is the same
observations that will be done in a truck moving with constant velocity. If you throw a ball
vertically upward in a room that is at rest, you will observe this ball to fall back to your
hand, this observation should be the same if the same experiment is done by an observer
in a truck moving with constant velocity.
• Let us consider an observer at rest on Earth viewing the experiment in the previous
paragraph, this stationary observer sees the path of the ball in the truck to be a parabola.
The observer will also see that the ball is moving to the right with a velocity the same as the
truck. This observation is not the same with the observer in the truck who sees the ball
moving in a vertical path (Figure 1). Another observation that may differ between the two
observers is that for the one who is at the moving truck, he will see the ball in his hand to
be at rest, while the observer at rest on Earth will see the ball moving with a speed the same
as the speed of the truck. Although the two observers disagree on the shape of the path of
the ball, both will agree that the ball obeys the law of gravity and Newton’s laws of motion,
and they would even agree of the time the ball will remain in the air. With this observation,
it is concluded that there is no preferred frame of reference for describing the laws of
mechanics.

Author: IVAN C. DANO

School/Station: AGAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
1
Division: AGUSAN DEL NORTE
Email address: ivan.dano@deped.gov.ph
 Serway, Raymond A, et al. College Physics. Boston, Ma Cengage Learning, 2018. pp 839.

Figure 1. The two observers watch the path of the thrown ball and obtain different results.
• In the last half of the nineteenth century, a complication arose with the Galilean-Newtonian
relativity. Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism gave an equation which predicted that
light is an electromagnetic wave with a velocity c of 3.00 x 108 m/s. But, in what frame of
reference does light have precisely the values predicted by Maxwell’s theory? It was thought
that in different frames of reference, light would have a different speed. For example, if
observer could travel in a ship that moves away from the source of light, we might expect
this observer to see the light reaching them at a speed slower than the predicted speed of
light c. But there was no provision for relative velocity in Maxwell’s theory. The predicted
speed of light implies that there must be some preferred reference frame where c would have
this value.
• Nineteenth-century physicists thought that light, as a wave, travels in a medium, and they
call this transparent medium as luminiferous ether (or aether) and assumed it permeated
all space. It was therefore believed that the velocity of light given by Maxwell’s equations
must be with respect to the ether. This frame of reference was called the absolute frame.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/
AetherWind.svg/1200px-AetherWind.svg.png

Figure 2. It was assumed that the speed of light is relative to the luminiferous ether, a
reference frame called the absolute frame.
• To determine the speed of the Earth relative to the absolute frame of reference, an
experiment was performed by A.A. Michelson and E.W. Morley in the 1880s. They measured

Author: IVAN C. DANO

School/Station: AGAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
2
Division: AGUSAN DEL NORTE
Email address: ivan.dano@deped.gov.ph
 the difference in the speed of light in different directions using Michelson’s interferometer.
They expected to find a difference depending on the orientation of their apparatus with
respect to the ether. For just as a boat has different speed relative to the land when it moves
upstream, downstream, or across the stream, so too light would be expected to have
different speeds depending on the velocity of the ether past the Earth. However, they
detected no difference at all, which was a puzzle for them.

https://images.slideplayer.com/26/8374367/slides/slide_26.jpg

Figure 3. If luminiferous ether exist, the speed of light during spring should be faster
and slower during winter.
• The negative results of the Michelson-Morley experiment not only contradicted the ether
hypothesis, but also showed that it was impossible to measure the absolute velocity of Earth
with respect to the absolute frame. Maxwell's equations predict that the speed of light in a
vacuum is a constant, the same for all observers which is not consistent with Newtonian
physics, where all speeds are relative. In later years, when more was known about the
nature of light, the idea of an ether that permeates all space was discarded. Light is now
understood to be an electromagnetic wave that requires no medium for its propagation.
• Albert Einstein, in 1905, proposed the theory of relativity that explained the result of the
Michelson-Morley experiment and completely altered the notions of space and time. The
theory is based on the two postulates:
1. The principle of relativity: All laws of physics are the same in all inertial frames.
2. The constancy of the speed of light: The speed of light in free space has the same
measured value for all observers, regardless of the motion of the source or the motion of
the observer; that is, the speed of light c is a constant.
• The first postulate emphasizes that all laws of physics are the same in all reference frames
moving with constant velocity relative to each other. Einstein’s principle of relativity means
that any kind of experiments performed in a laboratory at rest must give the same result
when performed in a laboratory moving at a constant speed. Hence, no preferred inertial
frame of reference exists, and it is impossible to detect absolute motion.
• The second postulate may seem hard to accept, for it seems to violate the common sense.
First, we have to think of light travelling through empty space, which is not hard because
ether was not detected. But the second postulate also tells us that the speed of light c in a
vacuum is always the same no matter what the speed of the observer or the source. Thus,
a person travelling toward or away from the source of light will measure the same speed for
that light as someone at rest with respect to the source. This conflicts with our everyday
experience where we have to add or to take into consideration the speed of the observer.
The negative result of the Michelson-Morley experiment is consistent with the second
postulate.

Author: IVAN C. DANO

School/Station: AGAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
3
Division: AGUSAN DEL NORTE
Email address: ivan.dano@deped.gov.ph
 • It was possible to reconcile classical mechanics with Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory by
doing away with the idea of an absolute reference frame. This doesn’t mean that Newton is
wrong with his laws of motions, it’s just that it has limits. The speed of light predicted by
Maxwell’s equations is the speed of light in vacuum in any reference frame.

Activity 1. Form and Describe

What you need: Answer Sheet and Pen
What to do: In each item are words or terms whose letters are jumbled. Arrange these jumbled
letters to determine the word or term in the item, and then, give a short description
for this word or term. Write your answers on your answer sheet.

1. ERMAF OF ENEFCERER - ______________________________________________________________

2. TINERIAL EAFRM - ____________________________________________________________________
3. CTRGNELEICOMAET ERYOTH - ________________________________________________________
4. MILUOUERNIFS RHEET - ______________________________________________________________
5. BARTLE TENSEIIN - ___________________________________________________________________

Activity 2. True or False

What you need: Answer Sheet and Pen
What to do: Read each item carefully. On your answer sheet, write TRUE if the statement is
correct, if otherwise, change the underlined word or phrase in the item.
1. Newtonian mechanics is mainly based on the Newton’s laws of motion which describes the
motion of an object at rest or moving in a straight path.
2. According to Galilean relativity, the basic laws of physics are the same in all inertial
reference frames.
3. Inertial reference frame refers to a reference frame that is accelerating.
4. At rest, if you throw an object upward, it will eventually fall back to your hand, the same
observation will be seen if you are in a vehicle moving in a constant velocity.
5. In the principle of Galilean-Newtonian relativity, the speed of the object inside a moving
vehicle observed by a person inside that vehicle is the same speed that will be observed by
a person standing in the sidewalk.
6. Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory predicted that the speed of light c is constant, at a value
of 3.00 x 106 m/s.
7. Light, as a wave, was assumed to travel in a medium called the luminiferous ether.
8. The experiment performed by A.A. Michelson and E.W. Morley in the 1880s shows that
luminiferous ether does exist.
9. Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory predicts that the speed of light is the same for all
observers, which is consistent with the Newtonian mechanics.
10. Einstein’s special theory of relativity resolved the conflict between the Newtonian mechanics
and Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory by stating that the speed of light is constant in all
inertial frame of reference, regardless of the motion of the observer or of the source of the
light.

Author: IVAN C. DANO

School/Station: AGAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
4
Division: AGUSAN DEL NORTE
Email address: ivan.dano@deped.gov.ph
Reflection
Answer the following question concisely. Write your answer on your answer sheet.
1. If you were in a bus moving at constant velocity with no windows, could you sense the
difference between uniform motion and rest? Between accelerated motion and rest?
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

Rubric
3 - Practical application is scientifically explained consistent to the concepts, and has no
misconception.
2 - Practical application is scientifically explained consistent to the concepts, but with minimal
misconception.
1 - Practical application is explained consistent to the concepts, but with misconceptions.
0 - No discussion

References:

Giancoli, Douglas C. Physics: Principles with Applications. 7th ed., Harlow, Pearson Education,
2016. pp 744 – 749

Hewitt, Paul G. Conceptual Physics. 12th ed., Harlow, Essex, Pearson Education, 2015. pp 659
– 662

Serway, Raymond A, et al. College Physics. Boston, Ma Cengage Learning, 2018. pp 838 – 841

Young, Hugh D, et al. Sears and Zemansky’s University Physics: With Modern Physics. Harlow,
United Kingdom, Pearson Education Limited, 2020. pp 1245 – 1248

Answer Key
10. TRUE
9. is not consistent
8. doesn’t exist
7. TRUE
6. 3.00 x 108 m/s
5. Is not the same speed
4. TRUE
3. Not accelerating
2. TRUE
1. TRUE
Activity 2

ALBERT EINSTEIN 5.
LUMINIFEROUS ETHER 4.
ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY 3.
INERTIAL FRAME 2.
FRAME OF REFERENCE 1.
1 Activity

Author: IVAN C. DANO

School/Station: AGAY NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
5
Division: AGUSAN DEL NORTE
Email address: ivan.dano@deped.gov.ph