RELATIVITY & SPECIAL RELATIVITY
RELATIVITY & SPECIAL RELATIVITY topics In 1905, Einstein produced 3 seminal papers ( seminal means "pregnant with possibilities") one of which is his "Special Relativity". Relative motion is the comparison of positions, velocities and accelerations as we move from one "frame of reference" to another. Consider two cars approaching each other head on, one at 60 kmh -1 , the other at 40 kmh -1 . But these velocities are measured relative to the side of the road, the side of the road is the understood "frame of reference". If we now move into one of the cars, say the 60 kmh -1 one and make it our frame of reference; then the road goes backwards at 60 kmh -1 and the other car comes towards us at 100 kmh -1 . We have changed our frame of reference, so the relative motions of ground and other cars to alter. The relative motion statement in algebra of the above is v BrelA = v BrelG - v ArelG (1)
