Related papers: Student understanding of time in special relativit…
Formal definition of the reference frame is given. This definition is valid for nonrelativistic and relativistic cases. Proposed definition allows using wide classes of reference frames without restriction to inertial, uniformly accelerated…
This paper reports on an investigation into the correlations between students' understandings of introductory astronomy concepts and the correctness and coherency of their written responses to targeted Lecture-Tutorial questions. We…
Quantum gravity--the marriage of quantum physics with general relativity--is bound to contain deep and important lessons for the nature of physical time. Some of these lessons shall be canvassed here, particularly as they arise from quantum…
An analysis of composite inertial motion (relativistic sum) within the framework of special relativity leads to the conclusion that every translational motion must be the symmetrically composite relativistic sum of a finite number of quanta…
The theory of relativity showed that several Newtonian ideas about spacetime are imperfect. We present here some relativistic concepts related to these ideas: simultaneity of events and synchronization of clocks (both along a line in the…
Previous research has shown that students often struggle to develop an understanding of linear and quadratic relationships. Covariational reasoning has been identified as a way to support this development. This study aims to investigate how…
We review why the Thomas rotation is a crucial facet of special relativity, that is just as fundamental, and just as "unintuitive" and "paradoxical", as such traditional effects as length contraction, time dilation, and the ambiguity of…
A modest aim of this pedagogical presentation is to analyze, critically, certain fundamental physical concepts to illustrate the physical principles behind the special theory of relativity and, hence, to also illustrate the limitations of…
Einstein's argument on the relativity of simultaneity itself is the first result of the special theory of relativity. The nature of this result is explored, and implications of this result for the structure and functioning of the physical…
Observers at rest in two inertial reference frames are located within the propagation space of the same electromagnetic wave. Raising receiving antennas in a suitable way, these observers use the electromagnetic oscillations in the wave as…
It is plausible that quantum gravity effects may lead us to a description of Nature beyond the framework of special relativity. In this case, either the relativity principle is broken or it is maintained. These two scenarios (a violation or…
This paper re-centres the discussion of student learning in physics to focus on context. In order to do so, a theoretically-motivated understanding of context is developed. Given a well-defined notion of context, data from a novel…
In relativity, two simultaneous events at two different places are not simultaneous for observers in different Lorentz frames. In the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen experiment, two simultaneous measurements are taken at two different places. Would…
We study the limitations for defining spatial and temporal intervals when the only available reference frame is a single composite quantum system, whose internal degrees of freedom serve as a temporal reference, a clock, and whose center of…
Discussion of some aspects of the concept of time for a general audience: nature of time, A- and B-series, time in physics, the "now", measurement of time, definition of time units, time's arrow, relativity of time, relativity of…
A thought experiment first proposed by Sartori is analysed using the parallel velocity addition formula of special relativity. The distances and proper-time intervals between some similarly defined spatial coincidence events are found to be…
With special relativity, we seem to be facing a conundrum. It is a very well-tested theory; in this way, the Minkowski spacetime must be "capturing" essential features of space and time. However, its geometry seems to be incompatible with…
Time is absolute in standard quantum theory and dynamical in general relativity. The combination of both theories into a theory of quantum gravity leads therefore to a "problem of time". In my essay I shall investigate those consequences…
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…
Very little is known about how the nature of expertise in introductory and advanced courses compares in knowledge-rich domains such as physics. We develop a framework to compare the similarities and differences between learning and patterns…