Up till now, what you've seen has been very much built with the physical intuition you get from just looking at the world around you. But all that hard won intuition is not going to help you here, where we extend into the unfamiliar world - the world of the very fast which is special relativity Its not that your physical intution is wrong - it just needs extending when we move to more extreme environments.
The reading references are Young and Freedman (YF) chapter 37
Questions? if its something that comes up in the lecture - notation or something quick - then just come and ask at the end. We might have to move out of the lecture theatre but we can keep talking in the area outside. If its a question that comes up as you are going through the lecture notes in your own time then first try to understand by looking in the book or on the web (but beware of nutters!). Tutorials are another good place to ask questions, or if you'd like to discuss in more depth then there is the office hour or if that doesn't work for you then email me (chris.done@durham.ac.uk) and we can set up a time to talk.
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Lecture 1: YF37.1 Introduction postulates of SR and light as the maximum speed simulteneity and causality time dilation |
Lecture 2: YF37.2-3 Lorentz factor proper time examples did we go faster than light? (NO!!) |
Lecture 3: YF37.4 length contraction proper length twins paradox (simple) examples doppler effect |
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Lecture 4: YF37.5 Lorentz transforms examples (simulteneity and causality) spacetime diagrams |
Lecture 5: YF37.5 twin paradox (full version) velocity transformations example |
Lecture 6: YF37.7 relativistic momenta relativistic force relativistic kinetic energy E=mc2 rest mass energy |
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Lecture 7: YF37.8 relating momentum and energy relativistic collisions what it all means! |