The Spacetime World: Foundations of Special Relativity Theory (UMAP)

With this unit, the student will be able to: 1) recognize the relative nature of simultaneity, and fundamental implications this has for concepts of length and time; 2) outline a correct procedure for determining the length of a moving object; 3) state and use operational definitions of fundamental physical quantities; 4) given the speed of light in free space, convert it to specified units of length and time; 5) recognize and use the meter as a meaningful unit of time; 6) given a pair of events, determine whether the spacetime interval between them is spacelike, lightlike, or timelike; 7) use correctly the terms proper length, proper time, and spacetime interval; 8) state examples of physical quantities which are invariant (and others which are not) under transformation between reference frames in relative motion; and 9) respond adequately to the common myth that everything is relative.

Table of Contents:

INTRODUCTION

1. SIMULTANEITY, A RELATIVE CONCEPT

2. OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS

3. POSTULATES OF SPECIAL RELATIVITY THEORY (SRT)

4. THE INVARIANT INTERVAL

5. SUMMARY

6. GLOSSARY

7. ANSWERS TO THE EXERCISES

8. MODEL EXAMINATION

9. ANSWERS TO THE MODEL EXAMINATION