Physics 197 Lecture 36: The Principle of Relativity

• School: WUSTL
• Department: Physics
• Course: Physics 197
• Professor: Ferrar

Document Summary

Event: something that happens at a well-de ned place and time: a particle"s motion is a series of events. Spacetime coordinates: the set of four numbers that locate the event in space and time. Reference frame: a tool for assigning spacetime coordinates to events: a cubical lattice with a clock at every intersection. Observer: a person who interprets results obtained in a reference frame to reconstruct the motions of particles. First law detectors: test for violations of newton"s rst law. The laboratory moving at a constant velocity and the laboratory at rest are both inertial frames. There is no physical way to distinguish a frame in motion from one at rest: only the relative velocity between two inertial reference frames is measurable. The laws of physics are the same in all inertial reference frames. Newton"s hypothesis about time is that time is universal and absolute and thus independent of reference frame.