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Left: Spacetime diagram ......................Middle and Right: Applications of Special Relativity at CERN and the GPS
(Photos courtesy of CERN and NASA)
For a detailed lesson template with learning outcomes, keywords etc. click here.
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Left: Spacetime diagram ......................Middle and Right: Applications
of Special Relativity at CERN and the GPS
(Photos courtesy of CERN and NASA)
These lessons explore Minkowski spacetime diagrams, which are a powerful way of visualizing what happens as observers move at very high relative speeds.
Interactive
Lecture (60 minutes)
Spacetime diagrams and their use are developed in a PowerPoint presentation.
The students are provided with lots of opportunities to be actively involved
with concept questions and simple calculations. As well as theory, the students
are introduced to the many places where relativity is seen today. The presentations
are available as five small files; A)Introduction,
B)Speed Limits, C)Time
Slows, D)Twin Paradox
and E)Doppler Shift and
as one file Spacetime Part
I and with just concepts and almost no math as one file 'No'
Math Spacetime Part I. The individual files work best in
alphabetical order and you can eliminate parts B and E without any problems
in continutity. These files have been translated into french by Laure Ghia (Hamilton).
Thanks Laure! A) Introduction
(francais), B)
Vitesse Limite (francais), C)
Temps Relentit (francais) and D)
Paradoxe des Jumeaux (francais).
Worksheet
(30 minutes)
The two-page worksheet Spacetime
Part I Student will reinforce and extend what the students did during the
interactive lecture. It can be done in class and/or assigned as homework. The
answers are provided in Spacetime
Part I Answers . Question #10 might be good with the whiteboards.
Special thanks to Mark Ackersviller who spotted and error in Spacetime Part
I Answers. It has been corrected.