REVIEW

Fictitious Force
- Reference
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4OelTjHzuQ
- Reference frames( co-ordinate systems)
Inertial reference frame: stationary or moving with a constant
velocity (no a)
Non-inertial reference frame: continually accelerate(with a)
The observer in the reference frame feels like itself stationary.
- Newton’s Laws of motion hold in inertial frames, but not in non-
inertial frames unless ctitious force is added.

Lecture 1

Fast Physics
- Background:
You are sunbathing by the side of a busy motorway.
All of a sudden, an irresponsible person throws a used drinks can
out of their car window, and it heads in your direction.
Velocity as measured by you = Velocity of car + Velocity of throwing
- Actually:
Absolute velocity = velocity of the reference frames + relative
velocity
- Extension:
The speed of ‘ordinary’ light made in a stationary light bulb
VS
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The speed of light emitted from a star
It should be different according to the thing we talk above.
However,
light always goes at the same speed.
There is a problem with the Newtonian picture of motion.
So here comes the Special Theory of Relativity.

The Principle of Relativity

The axiom:
- There is no method for measuring absolute (non-relative)
velocity.
- There is no such thing as absolute velocity.
- The ‘laws of physics’ hold in all inertial laboratories, however
‘fast’ they may be going.
- Therefore all laboratories will agree on the speed of light.

High Speed Observations

1 Speeding objects look shortened in the direction of motion.
A metre stick comes hurtling towards you at high speed.
(1) If the stick’s length is perpendicular to the direction of travel:
measure the length as 1 metre.
(2) if the stick is parallel to its motion:
it will seem shorter to you.

v2
La = L0 1− 2
c
L0: stick’s actual length La: the apparent length
v: the speed of the metre stick relative to the observer

1
Write: γ =
1 − (v/c)2
L0
Therefore :La =
γ

Speeding clocks tick slowly

if a clock whizzes past you,
and you use another clever arrangement of timers and cameras to
watch it,
it will appear (to you) to be going slowly.
Mathematically:
T0
Ta =
γ

T0: a time interval measured by stationary clock

Ta: the time interval measured by the whizzing clock

Slowing and shrinking go together

Let us suppose that A and B both have excellent clocks and metre
sticks, and they wish to measure their relative speed as they pass
each other.
To do: A times how long it takes B to travel along his metre stick,
and B does the same.

How does Andrew settle his mind about Betty’s calculation?

Providing that her clock runs ‘slow’ by the same amount that her
metre stick is “short”.

Speeding adds weight to the argument

- If someone throws a 1kg bag of sugar at you at high speed,
and you (somehow) manage to measure its mass as it passes,
you will register more than 1kg.
Mathematically:
Ma = γM0

M0: the actual mass or the ‘rest mass’ -measured by an observer

who is at rest with respect to the object.
Ma: the apparent mass

- Consequences
1. ‘Universal speed limit’: not greater than the speed of light.
Please note that this does not mean that faster-than-light speeds
can never be obtained.
If we accelerate one electron to 0.6c Eastwards,
and another to 0.6c Westwards,
the approach speed of the two electrons is clearly superlumic (1.2c)
as we measure it with Earth-bound speedometers.
This means relative velocities do not add in a simple way when the
objects are moving quickly.
vAB + vBC
vAC =
1 + vABvBC /c 2
2. Newton’s Law of motion
dP
The second law: F =
dt

The time derivative of the mass needs to be included as well as the

time derivative of the velocity.

Relativistic Quantities
1. Momentum
P = γm0v
Momentum is conserved in relativistic collisions.
2. Force
d d dγ
F = P = m0(γ v + v )
dt dt dt

If the speed is not changing, γ will stay constant, and the equation
reduces to the much more straightforward F = γm0a.( The motion
of an electron in a magnetic eld)
3. Kinetic Energy
K = (γ − 1)m0c 2
The total energy of a particle:
E = K + m0c 2 = γm0c 2
4. A Relativistic Toolkit
E 2 − p 2c 2 = m02c 4
It relates E and p without involving the nasty γ factor.
Another:
p v
= 2
E c
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 The Lorentz Transforms
- Consider two frames of reference (or co-ordinate systems) –
A perspective (t,x,y,z)
B perspective (t’,x’,y’,z’)
We assume that B is shooting past A in the +x direction at speed v.
- The relationship between the two sets of co-ordinates is called
the Lorentz transformation.
- Derivation of the Lorentz Transformation
I. We begin with the assumption that the co-ordinate transforms
must be linear.
II. Given the linear nature of the transformation.

( t′) (C D) ( t )
x′ A B x
=
There must also be an inverse transformation:

( t ) d (−C A ) ( t′)
x 1 D −B x′
=
The second matrix should be of a very similar form to the rst
matrix, so there is symmetry between the two is to make the
determinant equal to one (d=1).
III. Summarizing, our matrix is now expressed totally in terms of
the unknown variable A.
If x’=0, then x=vt, then B=-vA;
The same -Dv=B=-vA.
Therefore A=D.
1 − A2
The determinant AD – BC = 1, then C = .
vA
IV. Both A and B will agree on the speed of travel c.
A express this as x=ct, B would say x’=ct’, then:




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The Lorentz transforms:

Four Vectors
- (t, x, y, z ) or (ct, x, y, z)
- Four velocity: (γc, γ vx, γ vy, γ vz) is the derivative of (ct, x, y, z)
with respect to the proper time τ.
Proper time is the time elapsed as measured in the rest frame of
the object t = γτ.
- Momentum four vector:(mc, px, py, pz)