Physical Science Q4 Week 7 - v2
Physical Science Q4 Week 7 - v2
THEORIES OF RELATIVITY
for Physical Science/ Grade 11
Quarter 4/ Week 7
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FOREWORD
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OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, the learners will be able to:
K: determine the premise and facts that support the special and
general theories of relativity;
S: describe the consequences of the postulates of the special
and general theories of relativity; and
S: recognize the significant impact of the theory of relativity.
LEARNING COMPETENCIES
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I. WHAT HAPPENED
PRE-ACTIVITIES/PRE-TEST
Part A: Arrange the scrambled words below. Write your answers in the
notebook.
2. AEPCS - the dimensions of height, depth, and width within which all
things exist and move.
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conventional understanding of physics was during the time of Einstein’s teenage
years.
First, in 1801 Thomas Young had conducted a simple double slit
experiment that showed that light behaved like a wave. So, the predominant
theory about light at the time was that it was a wave. The problem is that a
wave, it was thought, had to move through some sort of medium. Something
has to be there to make the wave – similar to how waves at an ocean need
water to create a wave. But light was known to travel through outer space,
obvious because you can see star light. Yet, outer space was believed to be
empty, containing nothing. And it could be easily demonstrated the light can
indeed travel in a vacuum. So scientists thought that the only way light waves
could travel through the vacuum was if there was some kind of medium that
pervaded space and the entire cosmos. They called this substance the
“luminiferous ether.” And this theory of ether was the standard theory of physics
for most of the 19th century. Later in that same century in 1887, two scientists by
the name of Albert Michelson and Edward Morley, came up with an idea to test
the existence of ether. The background ether was believed to be unmoving and
static, but because the earth was moving it was thought that it would affect the
speed of particles (or waves), if the wave was traveling in the same direction as
the earth. The speed of the wave should be higher in the direction of the speed
of the earth. This would be similar to how a boat moves faster if it’s moving with
the flow of the current than if it is moving against current. To test this hypothesis,
Michelson and Morley designed a device that split a beam of light and bounce
it off mirrors so that it moved in different directions, and finally hit the same
target. The idea was that if two beams travel the same distance along different
paths through the ether, they should move at different speeds. And therefore,
when they hit the final target screen those light beams would be slightly out of
phase with each other, which would create an interference pattern. The results
of this test were astonishing. They showed that there was no difference in the
speed of light of the two measurements. No matter which path the beam took,
light seemed to be moving at precisely the same speed. This seriously
jeopardized the ether theory at least for light. No one could make sense of this
or come up with an alternate theory to explain it. It was labeled “the greatest
failed experiment of all time.”
This is where Albert Einstein comes in. The term relativity had been around
even before Albert Einstein. But it was thought of in a completely different way.
The term had originated with Galileo Galilei. He and Isaac Newton had
demonstrated relativity. In 1873, it had been recently proposed by James Clerk
Maxwell that light was an electromagnetic wave. And he had calculated its
speed, which was approximately 186,000 miles/second. Einstein knew this. And
he came up with a thought experiment as a sixteen-year-old. His thought was to
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imagine that he was chasing a beam of light while traveling at the speed of
light himself. What would he see? If young Albert could catch up to the beam,
he writes in his notes, “I should observe such a beam of light as an
electromagnetic field at rest, though spatially oscillating.” In other words, Einstein
thought that he should see a stationary wave of light. Yet, that was impossible.
Einstein knew that such stationary fields would violate equations of
electromagnetism developed by James Clerk Maxwell, twenty years earlier.
The laws were quite strict. Any riffles in the electromagnetic field have to
move at the speed of light and cannot stand still. There are no exemptions. In
addition, Einstein reasoned that if someone was traveling on a non-accelerating
train at close to the speed of light, there would be no way for that person to
know how fast he was going, if there were no windows. This had been the
classical view of relativity. Why should the laws of physics be different for a
person traveling at some fixed velocity, versus someone standing still? This
seemed untenable to Einstein. So, he came up with two postulates…
(adapted from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAf7FXih-Jc)
1. Who was named as "man of the century" by the Time magazine and whose
name is synonymous with "genius"?
3. What was the simple thought experiment? And how did it lead to probably
the biggest revolution in physics since Isaac Newton?
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II. WHAT I NEED TO KNOW
Source: http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast122/lectures/lec20.html
In the holistic viewpoint of relativity theory, concepts such as length, mass and
time take on a much more nebulous aspect than they do in the apparently rigid
reality of our everyday world. However, what relativity takes away with one
hand, it gives back in the form of new and truly fundamental constants and
concepts.
The theory of relativity is traditionally broken into two parts, special and general
relativity. Special relativity provides a framework for translating physical events
and laws into forms appropriate for any inertial frame of reference. General
relativity addresses the problem of accelerated motion and gravity.
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Special Theory of Relativity
By the late 1800's, it was becoming obvious that there were some serious
problems for Newtonian physics concerning the need for absolute space and
time when referring to events or interactions (frames of reference). In particular,
the newly formulated theory of electromagnetic waves required that light
propagation occur in a medium (the waves had to be waves on something).
In the 1890's, two physicists (Michelson and Morley) were attempting to measure
the Earth's velocity around the Sun with respect to Newtonian’s absolute space
and time. This would also test how light waves propagated since all waves must
move through a medium. For light, this hypothetical medium was called the
ether.
The results of the Michelson-Morley experiment was that the velocity of light was
constant regardless of how the experiment was tilted with respect to the Earth's
motion. This implied that there was no ether and, thus, no absolute space. Thus,
objects, or coordinate systems, moving with constant velocity (called inertial
frames) were relative only to themselves.
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Figure 1: A photon that propagates electric and magnetic waves
Source: Relativity (uoregon.edu)
The illustration above explains that Einstein noticed a logical flaw with time and
space (frames of reference) and light as electromagnetic waves. A stationary
observer (a person not moving) only sees a photon as a self-propagating
electric and magnetic wave. If the observer is moving at the speed of light
(moving at the same speed as the waves) then the wave motion and the
electric and magnetic fields cannot support themselves.
Because of this, Einstein concluded that the speed of light is the upper limit of
motion. Based on this conclusion, he believed that observers must always move
slower than the speed of light and only massless particles like photons can move
at the speed of light. This notion becomes the foundation for the special theory
of relativity. This eliminates the paradox with respect to Newtonian physics and
electromagnetism of what does a light ray `look like' when the observer is
moving at the speed of light.
The change in time is called time dilation, where frames moving near the speed
of light have slow clocks.
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Time dilation leads to the famous Twins Paradox, which is not a paradox but
rather a simple fact of special relativity. Since clocks run slower in frames of
reference at high velocity, then one can imagine a scenario were twins age at
different rates when separated at birth due to a trip to the stars.
Special relativity describes changes in size and time through the use of Lorentz
transformations. For an event that lasts to seconds in your frame, the same event
will appear to last t in a frame that is moving with velocity v such that:
to = t/(1-(v/c)2)1/2
where c is the speed of light.
Spacetime
The theory of special relativity proved that spatial and temporal coordinates
have a connection. Despite the fact that time and three-dimensional space
coordinates are physically distinct, their properties are so closely linked that it
only makes sense to represent them as a four-dimensional continuum.
Spacetime makes sense from special relativity since it was shown that spatial
coordinates (Lorentz contraction) and temporal coordinates (time dilation) vary
between frames of reference. Notice that under spacetime, time does not
`happen' as perceived by humans, but rather all of the time exists, stretched out
like space in its entirety. Time is simply ‘there'.
Mass-Energy Equivalence
Because special relativity shows that space and time are variable concepts in
different frames of reference, velocity (space divided by time) also becomes a
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variable. If velocity varies from one reference frame to the next, velocity-related
notions must be relative as well. Momentum, or motion energy, is one such idea.
The implications of this were not realized for many years. For example, the
production of energy in nuclear reactions (i.e. fission and fusion) was shown to
be the conversion of a small amount of atomic mass into energy. This led to the
development of nuclear power and weapons.
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Similarly, Einstein was able to anticipate that the photon possesses momentum
despite its mass being zero due to the equivalence of mass and energy. As a
result, light sails and photoelectric detectors can be developed.
Special relativity and E=mc2 led to the most powerful unification of physical
concepts since the time of Newton. The previously separate ideas of space,
time, energy, and mass were linked by special relativity, although without a
clear understanding of how they were linked.
The how and why were left to the area of general relativity, a full theory of
gravity based on spacetime geometry. Einstein's attempt to apply special
relativity in accelerating frames of reference gave rise to general relativity.
Remember that the theories of relativity were developed for inertial frames, or
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those that move at a constant speed. Adding acceleration was a challenge
that Einstein struggled with for ten years.
Equivalence Principle
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General Relativity
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There were two classical tests of general relativity, the first was that light should
be deflected by passing close to a massive body. The first opportunity occurred
during a total eclipse of the Sun in 1919.
Stellar locations near the darkened solar limb were measured, proving Einstein
correct. The Hubble Space Telescope got direct confirmation of gravitational
lensing.
The second test is that general relativity predicts a time dilation in a gravitational
field, such that clocks (or atomic processes) move slowly in comparison to
someone outside the field. On the mid-1970s, atomic clocks flying in planes
confirmed this.
The general theory of relativity is constructed so that its results are approximately
the same as those of Newton's theories as long as the velocities of all bodies
interacting with each other gravitationally are small compared with the speed
of light--i.e., as long as the gravitational fields involved are weak. The latter
requirement may be stated roughly in terms of the escape velocity. If the
escape velocity approaches the speed of light, the gravitational field is strong; if
it is much smaller, it is feeble. In this sense, all gravitational fields encountered in
the solar system are weak.
Notice that at low speeds and weak gravitational fields, general and special
relativity reduce to Newtonian physics, i.e. everyday experience.
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Summary:
The laws of physics are the same in all frames of reference that are moving at
a constant velocity with respect to one another.
The second principle has something to do with the speed of light. This is
called the constancy of speed principle. It can be stated as follows:
The speed of light in empty space has the same magnitude for all observers
regardless of their velocity.
You have learned that the speed of light in empty space is 3x108 m/s. An
observer traveling toward a light source would perceive light to be traveling at
3x108 m/s. Light would appear to be traveling at 3x108 m/s to an observer who is
not moving in relation to the source. The speed of light would remain constant
regardless of the velocity of the source of light and the velocity of the observer.
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Therefore, we can conclude that time is relative. It flows at different rates for
different observers. Let us also consider the fact that time and space are not
independent. Special relativity has been verified by countless experiments and
the predicted results always fit Einstein’s equations. This is no fiction at all. This is
how the universe works.
Performance Task
Make a short essay by answering the question below using the concepts and
understanding of the special and general theories of relativity. Do this in your
activity notebook/sheet.
“How did the theory of relativity impact society and change the world?”
Total------------------------------- 20 points
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III. WHAT I HAVE LEARNED
POST-TEST/EVALUATION
A. True or False. Read carefully the statements below. Write T if the statement is
correct and F if it is wrong. Do this in your activity sheet/notebook.
_____ 2. Einstein concluded that only massless particles like photons can move at
the speed of light.
_____ 3. The key premise to special relativity is that the speed of light changes in
all frames of reference, regardless of their motion.
_____ 4. Time dilation states that frames moving near the speed of light have fast
clocks.
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References
Relativity.Abyss.uoregon.edu.http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast122/lectures/lec2
0.html. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF NEGROS ORIENTAL
ROSELA R. ABIERA
Education Program Supervisor – (LRMS)
ARNOLD R. JUNGCO
PSDS – Division Science Coordinator
MARICEL S. RASID
Librarian II (LRMDS)
ELMAR L. CABRERA
PDO II (LRMDS)
FRUSSELL V. ELTANAL
Writer
Noelyn Siapno
Lay – Out Artists
________________________________
ALPHA QA TEAM
LIEZEL A. AGOR
EUFRATES G. ANSOK
JOAN Y. BUBULI
MA. OFELIA BUSCATO
LIELIN A. DE LA ZERNA
DEXTER D. PAIRA
BETA QA TEAM
LIEZEL A. AGOR - BESAS
JOAN Y. BUBULI - VALENCIA
LIELIN A. DE LA ZERNA
PETER PAUL A. PATRON
THOMAS JOGIE U. TOLEDO
DISCLAIMER
The information, activities and assessments used in this material are designed to provide
accessible learning modality to the teachers and learners of the Division of Negros Oriental. The
contents of this module are carefully researched, chosen, and evaluated to comply with the set
learning competencies. The writers and evaluator were clearly instructed to give credits to
information and illustrations used to substantiate this material. All content is subject to copyright
and may not be reproduced in any form without expressed written consent from the division.
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SYNOPSIS AND ABOUT THE AUTHOR
AUTHOR
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