In this paper, I describe a lay course in special relativity (SR) given at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes (OLLI's) at Florida International University and the University of Miami. Courses are also offered in general relativity1 quantum theory cosmology the nature of time, and the fine-tuned universe. Each course is presented in six hour-and-a-half weekly sessions. Students are mostly retired or semi-retired adults like me. Most are college educated, but with little or no formal physics education.
References
1.
Ira Mark
Egdall
, “Teaching general relativity to the layperson
,” Phys. Teach.
47
, 522
(Nov. 2009
). 2.
I. M.
Egdall
, Einstein Relatively Simple: Our Universe Revealed in Everyday Language
(World Scientific
, Singapore
, 2014
).3.
Galileo
Galilei
, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems — Ptolemaic and Copernican, first published 1632
; translation by Stillman Drake (University of California Press
, Berkeley
, 1962
) p. 186
ff. As cited in E. F. Taylor and J. A. Wheeler, Spacetime Physics: Introduction to Special Relativity, 2nd ed. ( W. H. Freeman, New York, 1992), pp. 53–54.4.
Einstein to Erika Oppenheimer
, 13 September 1932
. As cited in J. Stachel, Einstein from ‘B’ to ‘Z’ (Birkhäuser, Boston, 2001), p. 197.5.
Albert
Einstein
, “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies.” English translation of original published in Annalen der Physik 17, 891, which appears
in W.
Perrett
and G. B.
Jefferey
, The Principle of Relativity: A Collection of Original Memoirs on the Special and General Theory of Relativity
(Methuen
, London
, 1923
).6.
Albert
Einstein
, “Autobiographical Notes
,” p. 53
, in Paul Arthur
Schilpp
, ed. Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist
(Open Court Press
, La Salle, III
, 1949
), pp. 3–94, as cited in D. E. Brody and A.R. Brody, The Science Class You Wish You Had…: The Seven Greatest Scientific Discoveries in History and the People Who Made Them (Perigee Trade, New York, 1997), p. 121.7.
Unbeknown to Einstein at the time, his new transform had been developed earlier by Dutch physicist Hendrik Lorentz (and others), hence its name. But no one appreciated its physical significance until Einstein.
8.
For a good light clock animation and derivation of the time dilation formula, see http://casa.colorado.edu/~ajsh/sr/time∼ajsh/sr/time.html#dilation.
9.
For greatest simplicity, the Lorentz factor is defined here as . In textbooks it is given more often as the reciprocal: , where γ is the Greek letter gamma.
10.
With the exception of magnetism—it is a relativistic effect that is noticeable at everyday speeds. See
R. G.
Piccioni
, “Special relativity and magnetism in an introductory physics course
,” Phys. Teach.
45
, 152
(March 2007
). 11.
I am indebted to an anonymous reviewer for this simple example on how time dilation leads to length contraction.
12.
Brian
Greene
, The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory
(Vintage Books
, New York
, 2000
), p. 36
.13.
I avoid the concept of relativistic mass, as most modern physicists prefer the latter approach (as did Einstein), where mass is invariant. It gives a clearer picture of the underlying physics and is particularly useful when applied to spacetime physics and general relativity. See, for example,
Eugene
Hecht
, “Einstein never approved of relativistic mass
,” Phys. Teach.
47
, 336
(Sept. 2009
). 14.
Email communication with
Art
Hobson
, Professor Emeritus of Physics
, University of Arkansas
.15.
Art
Hobson
, Physics: Concepts and Connections
, 5th ed. (Addison-Wesley
, New York
, 2010
), p. 299
.16.
As an anonymous reviewer pointed out, “Since energy is also conserved, it would require to invest an infinite amount of energy (an infinite amount of work) to put that particle into motion at the speed of light.”
17.
Henri Poincaré was the first to propose an invariant interval, in 1905: “the quantity (L2 − c2 T2 ) where L represents the space interval and T the time interval.” In 1908, Hermann Minkowski presented it in its four-dimensional differential form: . (Source: C. Marchal, Henri Poincaré: A Decisive Contribution to Relativity [General Scientific Direction, ONERA, France], http://www.annales.org/archives/x/Relativitydoc.) (Last accessed
March 2014
.)18.
We are able to subtract the square of the space interval directly from the square of the time interval by selecting compatible units, such as light-years for distance and years for time. This also makes the speed of light c equal to 1, so it drops out of the equation.
19.
Wristwatch times and resultant aging experienced by Steve and Arianna are the same in all three reference frames. For an example, see: EINSTEINLIGHT, “The twin paradox: Is the symmetry of time dilation paradoxical?” at http://www.phys.unsw>edu.au/einsteinlight/jw/module4_twin_p aradox.htm.
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