Related papers: Modernizing Newton, to work at any speed
The notions of time in the theories of Newton and Einstein are reviewed so that certain of their assumptions are clarified. These assumptions will be seen as the causes of the incompatibility between the two different ways of understanding…
Modern physics is now a regular course for non-physics majors who do not have to take the accompanying laboratory. This lack of an experimental component puts the engineering students at a disadvantage. A possible solution is the use of…
In the present essay we attempt to reconstruct Newtonian mechanics under the guidance of logical principles and of a constructive approach related to the genetic epistemology of J. Piaget and R. Garc\'ia \citep{piag89}. Instead of…
This article provides a popular, largely non-technical explanation of how large objects can behave classically while smaller objects behave quantum mechanically, based on the effect of the presence of cosmic expansion velocities in extended…
From antiquity the conceptual perception of space changed painfully and at a relatively slow pace. It went through mythological descriptions, religious beliefs, metaphysical worldviews and cosmological models with a mechanistic structure,…
A common learning goal for modern physics instructors is for students to recognize a difference between the experimental uncertainty of classical physics and the fundamental uncertainty of quantum mechanics. Our prior work has shown that…
Einstein's general theory of relativity is the standard theory of gravity, especially where the needs of astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology and fundamental physics are concerned. As such, this theory is used for many practical purposes…
A new approach in the Newtonian space and time, based upon the assumption that inertial mass is the quantitative measure of the matter. It has been shown that in case of a special physical system, a supposed matter transfer may reproduce…
We show that results of a simple dynamical gedanken experiment interpreted according to standard Newton's gravitational theory, may reveal that three-dimensional space is curved. The experiment may be used to reconstruct the curved geometry…
Two people may claim both to be naturalists, but have divergent conceptions of basic elements of the natural world which lead them to mean different things when they talk about laws of nature, or states, or the role of mathematics in…
In this contribution to the conference "Beyond Einstein: Historical Perspectives on Geometry, Gravitation and Cosmology in the Twentieth Century", we give a critical status report of attempts to explain the late accelerated expansion of the…
Recent advances in our understanding of the Universe have revolutionized our view of its structure, composition and evolution. However, these new ideas have not necessarily been used to improve the teaching of introductory astronomy…
These lectures notes contain an introduction to General Relativity. They are addressed to a general mathematical audience with no specific background in physics. The goal is to motivate and explain Einstein's theory of gravity and discuss…
More than a speculative technology, quantum computing seems to challenge our most basic intuitions about how the physical world should behave. In this thesis I show that, while some intuitions from classical computer science must be…
In Newtonian physics, the excitation spectrum of a fluid is the same in all reference frames, up to a trivial shift. In special relativity, this is no longer the case. Relativity of simultaneity causes different inertial observers to…
Modifications of General Relativity usually include extra dynamical degrees of freedom, which to date remain undetected. Here we explore the possibility of modifying Einstein's theory by adding solely nondynamical fields. With the minimal…
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…
In this paper, we discuss the question whether a physical "simplification" of a model makes it always easier to study, at least from a mathematical and numerical point of view. To this end, we give different examples showing that these…
Special relativity theory is generalized to two or more ``maximal'' signalling speeds. This framework is discussed in three contexts: (i) as a scenario for superluminal signalling and motion, (ii) as the possibility of two or more ``light''…
Using dimensional analysis techniques we present an extension of Newton's gravitational theory built under the assumption that Milgrom's acceleration constant is a fundamental quantity of nature. The gravitational force converges to…