RELATIVITY

PREPARED BY:
LEONISA O. BERNARDO, PHD
 EINSTEIN’S CROSS
 formed by gravitational lensing of a distant quasar by the galaxy in
the center.
 The picture is not a cluster of stars.
 The central bright spot is a galaxy at a
great distance from Earth.
 The four spots around it are all images
of even more distant objects (called
quasar or quasi-stellar object) which is
curved by the gravitational pull of the
intermediate galaxy to form four
surrounding images.
 It means that light can be bent by
Is the Einstein’s Cross a cluster of stars? gravitation. (deduced by Einstein)
 Gravitational Lensing

A gravitational lens is a distribution of matter (such as a cluster of galaxies)

between a distant light source and an observer, that is capable of bending the light
from the source as the light travels towards the observer.
 SEARCH FOR THE AETHER
THE FOLLOWING CONCEPTS LED SCIENTISTS TO BELIEVE THAT LIGHT WOULD
NEED A MEDIUM IN WHICH TO PROPAGATE:
Waves are disturbances (or excitations) that propagate through space or
some medium as a function of time.
Sound consists of longitudinal pressure waves and needs a medium in
which to propagate.
Light is an electromagnetic wave.
The scientists called this medium as aether.
Albert Michelson and Edward Morley at the Case Institute in Cleveland,
Ohio, set out to measure the light’s velocity with respect to the aether in
1887.
 MICHELSON MORLEY EXPERIMENT

Q1. Does aether exist?

Q2. Is medium needed for

light to travel? Explain why?

Video on Michelson Morley Expt.: Simple Animation, R_A, R_B, R_C

 SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY
 It is called special because it deals with the special case of
motion with constant velocity (zero acceleration).
 Newtonian mechanics can be thought of as a special case of
Einstein’s work, giving the same results in ordinary situations.
Special relativity arrives at quite different results for motion at
a significant fraction of the speed of light.
These results play a major role in the physics of the very small
(high-energy particle physics and quantum mechanics) and the
physics of the very large (astronomy and cosmology).
 REFERENCE FRAMES
 An inertial reference frame is a reference frame in which an object
accelerates only when a net external force is acting on it.
 An inertial reference frame moves with constant velocity with respect
to any other inertial reference frame.

 A noninertial frame is a frame where the point of origin experiences an

acceleration.
 For example, a diver who jumps off a diving board and is in free fall is
not in an inertial reference frame, because she is experiencing a net
acceleration.

(The phrase reference frame in the following discussion refers to an inertial

reference frame.) Video on inertial reference frame: R_D
 EINSTEIN’S POSTULATES
Postulate 1: The laws of physics are the same in every inertial reference
frame (independent of the motion of this reference frame).

o Inertial reference frame is applicable if your are (1) at rest or (2) moving at
constant velocity
o All the laws of physics like Law of Conservation of Momentum, Law of
Conservation of Energy and other laws applies when in an inertial frame of
reference.

Postulate 2: The speed of light c is the same in every inertial reference frame
(regardless of the motion of the source or the observer).

Speed of light, c = 299,792,458 m/s

Video: R_E
 BETA (β) AND GAMMA (γ)
 two commonly used dimensionless quantities
 depend only on the (constant) speed of light, c, and the
velocity, v, of an object. γ Use the notation:

For ,

the equations 1 & 2

means that
Time required
Time required
Example 1
Spaceship carrying a light clock moves
with a speed of 0.500 relative to an
observer on Earth. According to this
observer, how long does it take for the
spaceship's clock to advance 1.00s?
Example 2
Seat Work 1

How fast must a spacecraft

travel relative to the earth for
each day on the spacecraft to
correpond to 2 days on the
earth?
Seat Work 1

Find the speed of a speace craft

whose clock runs 1s slow per
hour relative to a clock on the
earth.
1. The effects of time dilation don't become really noticeable until very high speeds are
reached so for this worked example I will use a speed of 90% of that of light, that is 270,000
km per second (the speed of light is very close to 300,000 km per second, or 186,300 miles
per second). The first thing we must do is to write down the equation
2. An astronaut is travelling at a constant speed of 2.7 x 108 m/s relative to the Earth toward a
distant star. If this trip takes 25 years as measured by an observer on Earth, how long does it
take relative to the observer on the space vehicle?
3. An astronaut is travelling at a constant speed of 2.95 x 108 m/s relative to the Earth through
space. According to the time devices on the space vehicle, her trip lasted 0.500 years. How long
did this trip last relative to an observer on Earth?
4. You take a trip through space and when you return to Earth you have aged 4.0 years. Your
friend who remained on Earth has aged 11.0 years. How fast was your spaceship travelling on
your trip?
4. You take a trip through space and when you return to Earth you have aged 4.0 years. Your
friend who remained on Earth has aged 11.0 years. How fast was your spaceship travelling on
your trip?
5. Determine the relativistic time, if T0 is 7 years and the velocity of the object is 0.55c.
Assignment 1 - Posted on our
google classroom
 Assignment 2 – Blog ( answering the following questions)
1. You are in a spaceship, travelling directly away from the Moon with
a seed of 0.9c. Alight signal is sent in your direction from the surface
of the moon. As the signal passes your ship, do you measure its
speed to be greater than, less than, or equal to 0.1c? Explain.
2. A street performer tosses a ball straight up into the air(Event 1) and
then catches it in his mouth (event 2). Foe each of the following
observers, state whether the time they measure between theses two
events is the proper time or dilated time: (a) the street performer; (b)
a stationary observer on the other side of the street; © a person
sitting at home watching the performance on TV; (d) persons
observing the performance from a moving car.
2. An astrounout is standing in a
spacecraft parallel to its direction of
motion. An observer on the earth finds
that the spacecraft speed is 0.6c and the
astrounout is 1.3 m tall. What is the
astronout’s height as measure in the
space craft?
Seatwork - Leght Contruction
Seatwork - What is the speed of an object if its
relativistic mass is three times the rest mass?
REVIEW OF CONCEPTS IN
SPECIAL THEORY OF
RELATIVITY

PROBLEM SET
 PROBLEM SET
TIME DILATION. Muon Decay
1. A muon is an unstable subatomic particle with a mean lifetime of
only 2.2 µs. This lifetime can be observed easily when muons
decay at rest in the lab. However, when muons are produced in
flight at very high speeds, their mean lifetime becomes time
dilated. In 1977, such an experiment was carried out at the
European CERN particle accelerator, where the muons were
produced with a speed of v = 0.9994c. (a) What will be the mean
lifetime of a muon as measured in the laboratory if it is traveling
at v = 0.9994c? (b) Without the effect of time dilation, how far
does it travel before decaying? (c) How far does a muon travel in
the laboratory before decaying?
LENGTH CONTRACTION. Length Contraction of a NASCAR Race Car
2. You see a NASCAR race car go by at a constant speed of v = 89.4 m/s
(200 mph). When stopped in the pits, the race car has a length of
5.232 m. (a) What is the change in length of the NASCAR race car
from you reference frame in the grandstands? Assume the car is
moving perpendicular to your line of sight.
Answer: 2.32 x 10-13 m
3. You see a NASCAR race car go by at a constant speed of v = 89.4 m/s
(200 mph). When stopped in the pits, the race car has a length of
5.232 m. (a) What is the change in length of the NASCAR race car
while it is running from you reference frame in the grandstands?
Assume the car is moving perpendicular to your line of sight.
RELATIVISTIC MASS AND MOMENTUM
4. What is the relativistic mass of proton travelling at v = 0.85c?
What is its momentum at this speed?

5. At what speed will an object’s relativistic mass be twice its rest

mass?
RELATIVISTIC KINETIC ENERGY
5. Calculate the kinetic energy and momentum of a proton traveling
2.60 x 108 m/s.

6. What is the speed of a particle when its kinetic energy equals its
rest energy?
LIGHT CONE
- A surface in space–time,
represented as a cone in three
dimensions, comprising all the
points from which a light signal
would reach a given point (at
the apex) simultaneously, and
which therefore appear
simultaneous to an observer at
the apex.
LIGHT CONE

Video on Light Cone: R_J, R_K

 SPACETIME DIAGRAM

Time

Event

Space
 WORLD LINE
 A world line is the trajectory of an
object in space and time.
This kind of plot is often referred to
as a graph in space-time, reflecting
how these two dimensions are
intertwined in relativity theory.
Figure 35.5 shows several world lines.
In this type of plot, we imagine
motion in only one space dimensions,
x, along with time.

Video of Space-time
Q5. According to Einstein, how many dimensions are there? What are those?
Q6. Describe the events ( a & b) and worldlines (c to h) in the following spacetime
diagrams:
a. c. e. g.
300 450

b. d. f. h.
300

700

Q7. Is it possible to move backward in time? How will you represent its worldline in the
graph?
 WORLD LINE
(GRAPH IN SPACE-TIME)

Let’s imagine we have an object initially located at x = 0 and t = 0 in this plot.

If the object is not moving in the x-direction, the object traces out a vertical line in this plot
(vector 1).
 If the object is moving in the positive x-direction with a constant speed, its trajectory is
represented by a path pointing up and to the right (vector 2)
 If the object is moving with a constant speed in negative x-direction, its trajectory is
depicted by a path pointing up and to the left (vector 3).
 An object traveling with the speed of light in the positive x-direction is shown as a
trajectory with a 450 angle with respect to the vertical axis (vector 4).
 An object traveling with the speed of light in the negative x-direction is given by a
trajectory with -450 angle with respect to the vertical axis (vector 5)
 SPACE-TIME INTERVAL
In classical mechanics, the distance between two points:

If two events take place at different times, then the time difference
between them is:

From the concept of the light cone and causality, the space intervals
s between two events 1 and 2 is:
 SPACE-TIME INTERVALS
Depending on the sign of s2, the three types of space-time intervals
can be distinguished.

LIGHT-LIKE INTERVALS are on the surface of the light cone.

SPACE-LIKE INTERVALS are on the exterior.

TIME-LIKE INTERVALS
In time-like intervals the proper time interval ∆τ, which is the time between two
events measured by an observer traveling with his clock in an inertial frame
between these events, with the observer’s path intersecting the world line of
each event as the event occurs.
 MOMENTUM AND ENERGY
Einstein’s Relativistic Energy of a Particle: E0 = mc2
Total Energy: E = ɣmc0
Relativistic Kinetic Energy: K=E–E
Similarly, Relativistic momentum: p = ɣmv
By derivation:
E2 = m2c4 + p2c2
For massless particles:
E2 = p2c2
Q8. If an electron has a speed of 99.0% that of light, what are its
total energy, kinetic energy and momentum? The rest energy of
electron, E0 = 0.511 MeV, and its rest mass is m = 0.511 MeV/c2
ASSIGNMENT
1. Explain the Equivalence Principle of Einstein.
2. Describe the effect of curved space-time to the motion of the
masses?
3. Does gravity affects light? Describe the gravitational lensing.
4. What is a black hole? How are blackholes detected?
5. What should be the radius of the Earth to turn it into a blackhole?
Use the Schwarzschild radius equation. Show your solution
6. How is the relativistic effect applied in the proper functioning of
Global Positioning System?
7. Give at least five (5) misconceptions in Relativity Theory.