PHY-3101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: James Clerk Maxwell, List Of Knot Terminology, Length Contraction
Document Summary
1890"s: many scientists believed physics had explained everything there was to explain scientifically. General theory of relativity: gravity"s acceleration effect is independent of the mass of an object. James clerk maxwell: summarized the research on electricity and magnetism; almost by accident explained light itself and its properties in optics. Typical view: michelson: most important fundamental laws and facts of physical science have all been discovered, and the possibility of these being supplemented by new discoveries is exceedingly remote. Other side: lord kelvin: predicted two large dark clouds over physics that we had yet to really understand and fully discover. Theory of relativity: as you approach the speed of light, the laws of classical physics break down (time, dilation, length contraction) Quantum mechanics: the science of really small stuff; when you observe matter at atomic length scales, the laws of classical physics change. Classical relativity relativity: describes the laws of physics as seen from different reference frames.
