Related papers: Relativity for games
Real Time Relativity is a computer program that lets students fly at relativistic speeds though a simulated world populated with planets, clocks, and buildings. The counterintuitive and spectacular optical effects of relativity are…
Real Time Relativity is a computer program that allows the user to fly through a virtual world governed by relativistic physics. The user controls a 'rocket' carrying a 'camera'. The rocket may be accelerated and steered, and the camera may…
One of the concepts of Relativity theory that challenges conventional intuition the most is time dilation and length contraction. Usual approaches for describing relativistic effects in quantum systems merely postulate the consequences of…
We consider a scenario that involves a machine gun, the bullets it fires and a moving target, considered from the rest frame of the machine gun and from the rest frame of the target respectively. Involving the special relativity via its two…
The principles of the special theory of relativity are extremely simple. A knowledge of the Pythagorean theorem and an ability to perform the simplest algebraic operations are sufficient to be conversant with the kinematics of the special…
The Special Theory of Relativity, introduced by Albert Einstein in the early 20th century, marked a radical shift in our understanding of space and time. Nevertheless, the theory's non-intuitive implications continue to pose conceptual…
This is a short note to announce the availability of some movies that may be useful in classroom discussions on the photographic appearance of objects moving at relativistic speeds. The images are based on special relativity with no account…
This paper presents a pedagogical introduction to the issue of how to implement Lorentz transformations in relativistic visualization. The most efficient approach is to use the even geometric algebra in 3+1 spacetime dimensions, or…
The development of both special and general relativity is accomplished in a series of 6 papers using a simple approach. The purpose is to explain the how and why of relativity to a broad public, and to be useful for students of physics by…
In this paper I argue for a reassessment of special relativity. The fundamental theory of relativity applicable in this Universe has to be consistent with the existence of the massive Universe, and with the effects of its gravitational…
Nature succeeds in accelerating extended and massive objects to relativistic velocities. Jets in Active Galactic Nuclei and in galactic superluminal sources and gamma-ray bursts fireballs have bulk Lorentz factors from a few to several…
The shortening of bodies in the direction of motion, Lorentz contraction, follows from the solution of Maxwell's equations. Moving light clocks will tick slower than those at rest because the speed of light does not depend on a source of…
Special Relativity (SR) kinematics is derived from very intuitive assumptions. Contrary to standard Einstein's derivation, no light signal is used in the construction nor it is assumed to exist. Instead we postulate the existence of two…
We present an investigation of game-like simulations for physics teaching. We report on the effectiveness of the interactive simulation "Real Time Relativity" for learning special relativity. We argue that the simulation not only enhances…
We present the special theory of relativity taking the Doppler effect as the starting point, and derive several of its main effects, such as time dilation, length contraction, addition of velocities, and the mass-energy relation, and…
This paper shows as the relativistic Doppler effect can be extended also to time and space associated to moving bodies. This extension derives from the analysis of the wave-fronts of the light emitted by a moving source in inertial motion…
The conventional discussion of the observed distortions of space and time in Special Relativity (the Lorentz-Fitzgerald Contraction and Time Dilatation) is extended by considering observations, from a stationary frame, of : (i) objects…
The Lorentz transformations are represented by Einstein velocity addition on the ball of relativistically admissible velocities. This representation is by projective maps. The Lie algebra of this representation defines the relativistic…
The paper discusses the problem of the Lorentz contraction in accelerated systems, in the context of the special theory of relativity. Equal proper accelerations along different world lines are considered, showing the differences arising…
In this paper, it is shown why Lorentz Transformation implies the general case where observed events are not necessarily in the inertia frame of any observer but assumes a special scenario when determining the length contraction and time…