Lecture

Special Relativity: Inertial Frames and Galileo's Laws

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In course

PHYS-106(h): General physics : thermodynamics

Le but du cours de Physique générale est de donner à l'étudiant les notions de base nécessaires à la compréhension des phénomènes physiques. L'objectif est atteint lorsque l'étudiant est capable de prévoir quantitativement les conséquences de ces phénomène ...

Description

This lecture covers the concepts of inertial and non-inertial frames of reference, the relativity of Galileo and Newton, the Michelson-Morley experiment, and the postulates of special relativity by Einstein. It discusses the equivalence of inertial frames, the laws of physics in different reference frames, and the role of mass in general relativity.

Instructor

Ivo Furno

Teaching & PhD PhD Students Jules Amédée Aristobule Schadt, Renat Karimov, Amélie Renggli, Yuri Asnis, Michael Goddijn, Vanni Jonas Meier, Cyrille Sepulchre, Francesco D'Angelo Past EPFL PhD Students Federico Nespoli, Oulfa Chellai, Thibaut François Hugo Richard, Fabian Manke, Riccardo Agnello, Alexandra Waskow, Lorenzo Ibba, Agus Rita, Kadi Lyes Roland Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector Davoud Iraji, Christian Gabriel Theiler, Alexandre Dominique Bovet, Fabio Avino Courses General physics : thermodyn

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Physics

Relativity: Special relativity

Mechanics: Classical mechanics

Related concepts (32)

Fictitious force

A fictitious force is a force that appears to act on a mass whose motion is described using a non-inertial frame of reference, such as a linearly accelerating or rotating reference frame. It is related to Newton's second law of motion, which treats forces for just one object. Passengers in a vehicle accelerating in the forward direction may perceive they are acted upon by a force moving them into the direction of the backrest of their seats for instance.

Inertial frame of reference

In classical physics and special relativity, an inertial frame of reference (also called inertial space, or Galilean reference frame) is a frame of reference not undergoing any acceleration. It is a frame in which an isolated physical object—an object with zero net force acting on it—is perceived to move with a constant velocity or, equivalently, it is a frame of reference in which Newton's first law of motion holds.

Non-inertial reference frame

A non-inertial reference frame is a frame of reference that undergoes acceleration with respect to an inertial frame. An accelerometer at rest in a non-inertial frame will, in general, detect a non-zero acceleration. While the laws of motion are the same in all inertial frames, in non-inertial frames, they vary from frame to frame depending on the acceleration. In classical mechanics it is often possible to explain the motion of bodies in non-inertial reference frames by introducing additional fictitious forces (also called inertial forces, pseudo-forces and d'Alembert forces) to Newton's second law.

Special relativity

In physics, the special theory of relativity, or special relativity for short, is a scientific theory of the relationship between space and time. In Albert Einstein's 1905 treatment, the theory is based on two postulates: The laws of physics are invariant (identical) in all inertial frames of reference (that is, frames of reference with no acceleration). The speed of light in vacuum is the same for all observers, regardless of the motion of light source or observer.

Theory of relativity

The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated physics theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical phenomena in the absence of gravity. General relativity explains the law of gravitation and its relation to the forces of nature. It applies to the cosmological and astrophysical realm, including astronomy.

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