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History 181B: Modern Physics

Class 19 (3/5/03)
Einstein and relativity (3)

 
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Outline The reception of relativity
    Electromagnetism
    Mechanics

Transforming mechanics: Different aspects

How do we deal with these strange effects?
    Can we ignore them?
    Can we get Newtonian mechanics back?
    Experience domesticates
Names and terms
Primary Secondary
rest frame
mass-energy
E = mc2 in the rest frame
space-time
time dilation
length contraction
twin paradox		 E2 = (pc)2 + (mc2)2
four-dimensional manifold
space-like separation
Assignment Albert Einstein, selections from "Autobiographical Notes," in Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist , vol. 1, ed. Paul Arthur Schilpp, (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1949), 2-53.

    What did Einstein mean by his "epistemological credo" (pp. 11-13)?
    Extra: Who would have disagreed with this? (Or with whom was Einstein disagreeing?)
    What did Einstein take from late nineteenth-century debates about the foundation of physics on mechanics? What did he take from Mach? What from Maxwellian electromagnetism?
Copyright © Cathryn Carson 2003