SPECIAL THEORY

OF RELATIVITY
ADVANCED PHYSICS_LESSON 2
Albert Einstein
● A portion of
Einstein’s fame
came when he
formulated Special
Relativity.
● HE CAME UP WITH THIS THEORY BY SIMPLY PERFORMING
THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS. HE WONDERED WHAT WOULD
HAPPEN IF YOU TRAVELLED AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT. HE
STARTED WITH THE MOST BASIC PRINCIPLES OF PHYSICS
AND WORKED UP FROM THERE…
PRINCIPLE OF RELATIVITY
● Reference frames
-A reference frame is a framework that is used for the observation
and mathematical description of physical phenomena and the
formulation of physical laws.

● Usually consisting of an observer, a coordinate system, and a

clock.

● We have always calculated with a frame of reference which we

perceived as still (Earth)
PRINCIPLE OF RELATIVITY
● The Principle of Relativity states that the laws of
physics apply to all frames of reference.

● If the reference frames don’t accelerate, what happens in one

would be the same as if we did it in another frame (Called a
Galilean System: law of inertia holds true in these frames)

● So if you were to drop a ball in your room and a ball in a car

moving at a constant speed, they would fall the same way.
● This is a very important concept in science. If this were not true,
there would be no reason to experiment since your results would be
different the next time you did the same experiment.
Relative Motion
Relative Motion
• The principle of relativity states that if two observers are in the
same frame of reference they will observe the same
measurements. However, if two observers are in different frames of
reference they will observe different measurements.
For example, a person in If you walk at 5 mph
car that is travelling at 30 on a moving platform -Einstein concluded
mph is holding a tennis which has a speed of 3 that this must mean
ball. To that observer, the mph, an observer that light has variable
ball has a speed of 0 mph. standing next to the speeds depending on
To an observer who is moving platform the reference frame
standing on the side of the would see you moving you are in and the
road however, the ball has at 8 mph. 𝑣 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 = 𝑣 speed of light must be
a speed of 30 mph! 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚 + 𝑣 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑒𝑟 very complicated.
The Speed of Light
-For some time, Einstein thought that since the principle
of relativity is true and the addition of relative velocities
is true, there must be some substance or ether that
light travelled through that altered it’s speed from one
reference frame to another.

Ether,- a theoretical universal substance

believed during the 19th century to act as the
medium for transmission of electromagnetic
waves (e.g., light and X-rays. The ether was
assumed to be weightless, transparent,
frictionless, undetectable chemically or
physically, and literally permeating all matter
and space.
The Speed of Light
-Then the Michelson-Morley experiment
was performed.
• This experiment proved that there is no
ether and the speed of light was
indeed constant no matter what frame
of reference!
• This astounded Einstein and got him
thinking again…

The Michelson–Morley experiment was an attempt to

measure the motion of the Earth relative to the luminiferous
ether, a supposed medium permeating space that was
thought to be the carrier of light waves. The experiment was
performed between April and July 1887 by American
physicists Albert A. Michelson and Edward W. Morley
SIMULTANEITY OF EVENTS
•Einstein then came up with a
thought experiment that had two
bolts of lightning hitting a train on
either side: • The light rays move away from the
original strikes, both travelling at the
speed of light. To an observer that is
midway between the strikes and not
on the train, the light from both bolts
reaches them at the same instant.
However, for the observer on the
train they do not reach her at the
same instant because she is moving
towards one bolt and away from the
other.
SIMULTANEITY OF EVENTS
• His experiment proves that simultaneity is not an absolute concept
but rather one that depends on the state of motion of the observer.

• This single thought experiment led to an amazing revelation: Time

is relative!

• We must now conclude that speed and time are relative/depend

on the frame you are in
-This is because to the observer standing still, the lightning
occurred at the same time, but to the woman on the train the lightning
that hit in the direction of motion hit before the other. Therefore their
definitions of WHEN the events happened depended on which frame
of reference they were in.

• This means that both the principle of relativity and a constant

speed of light can both be true!
The Special Theory of Relativity
The Special Theory of Relativity is a combination of these
two ideas:
● The Principle of Relativity (that the laws of physics
apply to all frames of reference)
● A constant speed of light regardless of the frame

● This has a number of different effects on objects that

travel very fast (approaching the speed of light)..
LENGTH CONTRACTION
• The dimensions of an
object (in the direction
of motion) shrinks as
that object’s speed
increases according to
an observer in a
different reference
frame. • L – Observed length
• Lo – Length while still or at rest
• v – Speed of the object
• c – Speed of light (3.00 x 108)
• Length Shrinks: Moving objects appear
shorter.
RELATIVISTIC MASS
• Mass increases for an
object the faster it moves.
- Moving objects appear to
be more massive
• m – Observed mass
• mo – mass of the object at rest
• v – Speed of the object
• c – Speed of light (3.00 x 108)
• This means that we could not travel at the speed of light because
our mass would become infinitely large. Only things that are
massless (like light) can travel that fast.
TIME DILATION
• A clock in a moving frame will
appear to be running slower to
an observer in a different
reference frame. The faster the
clock is travelling, the slower it
appears to run.
• T – Observed duration of time
❖ Time to moving objects • To- Duration of time while still or at
appears to slow down rest
• v – Speed of the object
• c – Speed of light (3.00 x 108)
• GPS satellites have to deal with time dilation due to their speeds.
Twin Paradox
Time Dilation is a particularly interesting
concept with the Twin Paradox example:

▪ Imagine there are twins that are both

21 years old. One of these twins enters
a spaceship that can travel at very close
to the speed of light (~99.99% of the
speed of light) while the other stays
behind on Earth. The twin aboard the
ship flies for one year away from the
Earth and then back for a total of two
years in the spaceship. When he returns
to Earth he will be 23 years old. The
twin that stayed behind on the other
-This is due to time dilation! The hand would have died a long time ago
biological clock for the fast moving twin because 200 years had passed on Earth!
ran slower than that of the twin that
stayed behind!
MASS-ENERGY EQUIVALENCE
• The formula defines the energy
E of a particle in its rest frame as
the product of mass (m) with the
speed of light squared (C2)

• For example, an electron with a rest mass of

9.1 x 10-31 kg has equivalent rest energy of
❖ This equation states that a 8.19 x 10-15 J. Therefore the rest energy
mass of an object is able to produced is great compared to the amount
of rest mass. This principle used in nuclear
produce an equivalent reactions. When a substance, like uranium,
amount of energy separates into different parts, the difference
in the mass of a substance from the
separated parts are converted into energy.
CONSEQUENCES IN REVIEW
❖ So, that means as your velocity increases:

• The dimension • Your mass • Time slows

in the direction increases
of travel will
shrink

✔ Again this is all according to an outside observer. You would not

notice any difference in yourself!
General Relativity
● After Einstein wrapped up the Theory of Special Relativity, he moved on to
figuring out how gravity works. Using what he figured out from his thought
experiments, he was able to come up with the General Theory of Relativity.

✔ General Relativity has the same

assumptions, but now the frames of
reference can be bent.

✔ This is when he came up with the

space-time fabric!

✔ The idea that affects light is seen in a concept

of black hole and gravitational red shift
QUIZ 2 (5 pts each)
1. What is the the Theory of Relativity?
2. What is Special Relativity and how does it it differ from General Relativity?
3. How did Albert Einstein develop the theory of relativity?
4. Explain the consequences of Special Relativity?
5. How does relativity affect our understanding of the universe, including space time
and gravity?
6. Can you explain the famous E=mC2 and its significance in relativity?
7. What are some everyday examples of applications of relativity?
8. How does relativity relate to other theories in physics such as quantum
mechanics?
9. What experiments or observations support the theory of relativity?
10. Are there any unresolved questions or challenges within the theory of relativity?