From: Eric Plett (EPlett@serrahs.com)
Date: Thu May 05 2005 - 08:39:28 PDT
Subject: relativity Date: Thu, 5 May 2005 08:39:28 -0700 Message-ID: <53B3BAA2AAE8164C85E60760022FCC1B0E0749@serra-exchange.serrahs.com> From: "Eric Plett" <EPlett@serrahs.com>
Paul,
Having a relativity web site by you will be great. Since you asked the
question the other day, I have been thinking about what I would want to
see on your web site. I decided to check what was already out there as
far as relativity. There's a lot. Someone could spend a lot of time
looking at site after site. And then we have texts like Hewitt which do
a pretty good job.
Yet I still feel inadequate explaining many questions that my students
come up with. Some of their questions recently have been about articles
that they have seen in the newspaper. 1) Why is light the absolute
speed limit? 2) Then how do some things travel faster than light? 3)
How do they slow light down to the speed of molasses? What are the
recent findings on the graviton and why are scientists so interested in
it?
I personally would like to see example with pictures a) of time dilation
(like the clocks taken up on the jets example that you mentioned) b)
length contraction and c) mass increase. In other words, how do we know
with certainty that these things really take place? What is the real
evidence that we have gathered? I could use this as a reference in my
teaching.
I would like to see a tie between the basics and some of the more recent
reports/articles that have come out. Good luck Paul.
Eric Plett
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