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Special Relativity Simulation

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George Barouxis

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Sep 1, 2005, 12:23:08 PM9/1/05
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At www.visual-physics.com you will find a simple simulation of Special
Relativity with some surprising results.

Comments are welcome.

Helmut Wabnig

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Sep 1, 2005, 1:53:35 PM9/1/05
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Page looks nice, but I dunnowaddado.

Can you add a button "default" or "Demo" for the illiterates?

w.

George Barouxis

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Sep 1, 2005, 1:05:40 PM9/1/05
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Helmut Wabnig wrote:

> Page looks nice, but I dunnowaddado.
>
> Can you add a button "default" or "Demo" for the illiterates?
>
> w.

You just read the Introduction, the text on the left. It tells you how
it works.

Dirk Van de moortel

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Sep 1, 2005, 1:42:52 PM9/1/05
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"George Barouxis" <ge...@visual-physics.com> wrote in message news:df79tg$39r$2...@usenet.otenet.gr...

> At www.visual-physics.com you will find a simple simulation of Special
> Relativity with some surprising results.
>
> Comments are welcome.

(1) I have read your first sentence under the header "Special Relativity":

| What you will see here is an effort to understand the meaning
| of the term "curved spacetime". When physicists talk about
| curved spacetime, they define it in terms of its metric.

Special relativity is set in flat Minkowski Spacetime.
Curved spacetime is treated in general relativity.

(2) Without having looked at anything else, having clicked the
button "Curved", I immediately noticed the line:

| In this system, the movement of bodies is described by the
| Lorentz transformation:

The movement of bodies is described by coordinates,
usually by specifying space coordinates as functions of a
time coordinate.
A transformation describes how coordinates as used in
one frame can be calculated as functions of coordinates
of another frame. By themselves they have nothing to do
with movement of bodies.

I would recommend the following two books:
"General Relativity from A to B" by Robert Geroch:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0226288641/102-4108931-6696947?v=glance
which is IMO the best introduction to *both* special and
general relativity one can find (check the sample pages)
and
"Spacetime Physics" by Taylor and Wheeler:
http://www.eftaylor.com/special.html
and much more at
http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Administrivia/rel_booklist.html

Dirk Vdm


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