Aristotle
Astronomy 350
Lecture 17, Oct 3 Fall 2011 Galileo Galilei

Lecture Notes: pdf file

Relativity

Pre-Relativity

  • prehistory: Aristotelian and Galilean spacetime, relativity
  • the ether?
  • Michelson & Morley experiment

Special Relativity

  • principle of relativity
  • the price: relativity of simultaneity
  • other consequences:
    length contraction
    time dilation
  • relativity, mass, and energy
    nonrelativistic vs ultrarelativistic motions
  • experimental tests
Dali:  The Persistance of Memory

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Brian D. Fields
Last modified: Mon Oct 3 09:20:07 CDT 2011