Unit 7 - Special Relativity

Definitions

• $C = \mbox{the speed of light}$
• $C = 299,792,458 \; \mbox{meters/second}$
• $C \approx 3 *  10^8 \; \mbox{meters/second}$
• $V = \mbox{difference in velocity of two observers}$
• $t = \mbox{time measured by first observer}$
• $t^{\prime} = \mbox{time measured by second observer}$

Equations

• $\beta = \dfrac{V}{C}$
• $\mbox{Where:}   \; 0 \le \beta \ge 1$
• $\gamma = \dfrac{1}{\sqrt{1 - \beta}}$
• $t^{\prime}  = \gamma t$
• $\mbox{If observers are reversed the results are the same}$