NOTES FOR THE DAY: Albert Einstein (1880-1955)

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• NOTES FOR THE DAY Albert Einstein (1880-1955)
• Special Theory of Relativity-1905 (high speed
  motion)
• Postulates (hypotheses) for all inertial
  observers
• inertial observer anyone for whom the
  pendulum hangs down.
• The laws of physics are the same
• (when there is no accelerated motion).
• 2. Speed of light, c, in a vacuum is the same.
• Extraordinary Consequences
• 1. Objects contract in the direction of motion.
• 2. Time slows for a clock moving near c.
• 3. No object can move faster than c.
• 4. Mass increases as the speed of light is
  approached.
• 5. Mass may be converted into energy and vice
  versa by E mc2.
• Fission, fusion, and antimatter conversion.
• (E energy, m mass, c speed of light 3 x
  108 m/s.)

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First Postulate All inertial observers
will deduce the same laws of physics.
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Second Postulate The speed of light in a
vacuum is the same for all observers in all
frames of reference. A frame of reference is a
coordinate system tied to an observer.
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• Extraordinary Consequences
• Near light speed, we see objects contract
• in the direction of motionLorentz
  contraction

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Extraordinary consequences 2. Time slows for a
clock moving near c --time dilation.

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Extraordinary consequences 3. No object can move
faster than c. The reason is explained in the
following slide.
For objects with mass, there is a speed limit in
the universe.
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Extraordinary Consequences 4. Mass, the
measure of inertia, increases to infinity as the
speed of light is approached.
Large Hadron Collider --particle accelerator at
CERN
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Extraordinary consequences 5. Mass may be
converted into energy and vice versa by
E mc2.
Fission, fusion, and antimatter conversion.
(E energy, m mass, c speed of light 3 x
108 m/s.)