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Physics > Physics Education

Title: A one-map two-clock approach to teaching relativity in introductory physics

Authors: P. Fraundorf
Abstract: This paper presents some ideas which might assist teachers incorporating special relativity into an introductory physics curriculum. One can define the proper-time/velocity pair, as well as the coordinate-time/velocity pair, of a traveler using only distances measured with respect to a single ``map'' frame. When this is done, the relativistic equations for momentum, energy, constant acceleration, and force take on forms strikingly similar to their Newtonian counterparts. Thus high-school and college students not ready for Lorentz transforms may solve relativistic versions of any single-frame Newtonian problems they have mastered. We further show that multi-frame calculations (like the velocity-addition rule) acquire simplicity and/or utility not found using coordinate-velocity alone.
Comments: 10 pages (1 fig, 3 tables) RevTeX; classroom-focus improved; also this http URL
Subjects: Physics Education (physics.ed-ph); General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc); Accelerator Physics (physics.acc-ph)
Report number: UMStL-CME-961107pf
Cite as: arXiv:physics/9611011v3 [physics.ed-ph]

Submission history

From: Phil Fraundorf [view email]
[v1] Wed, 13 Nov 1996 15:32:41 GMT (14kb)
[v2] Tue, 26 Nov 1996 16:12:45 GMT (0kb,I)
[v3] Sun, 22 Dec 1996 17:45:27 GMT (19kb)