- Relatively Simple - http://web.wt.net/~cbenton/relativity.htm
Special Relativity made Relatively Simple offers information and experiments about special relativity.
- C-Ship - http://www.fourmilab.ch/cship/
A short overview of special relativity, filled with relativistic ray traced images. Explains relativistic effects using a theoretical spaceship.
- Special Relativity - http://www2.slac.stanford.edu/vvc/theory/relativity.html
A brief overview of the theory of special relativity, and how it pertains to particles at SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator)
- Jim Doyle's Special Relativity Pages - http://www.btinternet.com/~j.doyle/SR/sr1.htm
A growing collection of pages on special relativity, including Special Relativity in under 15 Minutes!
- How Stuff Works: Special Relativity - http://www.howstuffworks.com/relativity.htm
The major principles of special relativity (SR) are discussed in an accessible way, via 5 segments, to help you understand the lingo and theories involved.
- Is Travel Faster Than Light Possible? - http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_question.cfm?articleID=000657D8-67D9-1C71-9EB7809EC588F2D7
Individual photons, which tunnel through a quantum barrier, can apparently travel faster than light.
- Special Relativity - http://www.geocities.com/zcphysicsms/sr.htm
A unit for an online relativity textbook explaining special relativistic mathematical physics.
- Special relativity lecture notes - http://www.phys.vt.edu/~takeuchi/relativity/notes
A standard introduction to special relativity where explanations are based on pictures called spacetime diagrams.
- Relativistic contraction - http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/%7ecfadd/1160/Ch27SpRl/ApLrntz.html
Relativists consider it a very important exercise to have students decide how to measure the length of a rapidly moving object.
- Relativity Tutorial - http://www.astro.ucla.edu/%7ewright/relatvty.htm
An introduction to relativity using space-time diagrams.
- Relativity in its Historical Context - http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Special_relativity.html
The discovery of special relativity was inevitable, given the momentous discoveries that preceded it.
- University Lectures on Special Relativity - http://www.physics.mq.edu.au/~jcresser/Phys378/LectureNotes/SpecialRelativityNotes.pdf
Lecture notes on Special Relativity, prepared by J. D. Cresser, Department of Physics, Macquarie University. 44 pages.
- Special Relativity - http://www.motionmountain.net/C-2-CLSC.pdf
This is chapter two of Christoph Schiller's 1000 page walk through the whole of physics, from classical mechanics to relativity, electrodynamics, thermodynamics, quantum theory, nuclear physics and unification. 61 pages.
- Synchronization Gauges and the Principles of Special Relativity - http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0409105
Synchronization functions set the mathematical clocks embedded in the Lorentz transformation and resetting these clocks mathematically only produces a theory equivalent to special relativity in predicting empirical facts. 57 pages.
- Imaginary in all directions - http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/math-ph/pdf/0309/0309061.pdf
There is a preferred algebra of quaternions and complex numbers that is ideally suited to express the equations of special relativity and classical electrodynamics.
- Lorentz Contraction and Accelerated Systems - http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/gr-qc/pdf/0301/0301050.pdf
Lorentz contraction in systems undergoing constant proper acceleration is proven to be completely self-consistent in the context of special relativity.
- Space Measurements on a Rotating Platform - http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/gr-qc/pdf/0309/0309020.pdf
The age-old puzzling problem of Lorentz contraction on a rotating platform, i.e., Ehrenfest's paradox, is explained in its proper mathematical context.
- Santa at Nearly the Speed of Light - http://www.fnal.gov/pub/ferminews/santa/
An estimate of the speed and distances covered by Santa Claus on Christmas night. The physics is unassailable. The article is hosted on the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory website.
- Beneath the Foundations of Spacetime - http://www.everythingimportant.org/relativity/special.pdf
Special relativity can be derived with moving rulers in such a way that the astonishing connection between space and time can be clearly understood.
- Student understanding of time in special relativity - http://arxiv.org/ftp/physics/papers/0207/0207109.pdf
A report on the ineffectiveness of standard university instruction in Einstein's concept of time by Rachel E. Scherr, Peter S. Shaffer, and Stamatis Vokos. 22 pages.
- Nothing but Relativity - http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/physics/pdf/0302/0302045.pdf
There are many ways to derive the Lorentz transformation without invoking Einstein's constancy of light postulate. The path preferred in this paper restates a simple, established approach.
- How Did Einstein Discover Special Relativity? - http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/essay-einstein-relativity.htm
Dr. John Stachel speculates on how Einstein arrived at SRT. Dr. Stachel is Professor of Physics Emeritus and Director of the Center of Einstein Studies at Boston University.
- Relativistic Kinematics - http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~phys16/Textbook/ch10.pdf
This is how special relativity is taught by Dr. David Morin at Harvard University. 72 pages.
- Why No 'New Einstein'? - http://www.everythingimportant.org/relativity/no-new-einstein.pdf
Followers of large well-supported research programs have lots of powerful senior scientists to promote their careers. People with the uncanny ability to ask new questions or recognize unexamined assumptions are often underappreciated.
- Henri Poincaré and Relativity Theory - http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0408077
Who created the theory of relativity? This reference identifies the substantial contributions made to relativity theory by the mathematician Henri Poincaré. 254 pages.
- Henri Poincaré: A Decisive Contribution to Special Relativity - http://www-cosmosaf.iap.fr/Poincare-RR3A.htm
Henri Poincaré set up all the basic concepts of special relativity several years before Einstein published On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies (Annalen der Physik vol XVII 1905 p 891-921). This is the short version of the story.
- A Note on Relativity before Einstein - http://eprint.uq.edu.au/archive/00002307/01/larmor.pdf
The first presentation of the Lorentz transformations, including the crucial time dilation, belongs to Larmor [1897].
- Einstein Light - http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/einsteinlight/
A multimedia tutorial on Special Relativity. The introductory level takes 10 minutes, but has links to over 40 explanatory pages giving greater depth and breadth.
- Relativistic force transformation - http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/physics/pdf/0507/0507099.pdf
Formulas relating one and the same force in two inertial frames of reference are derived directly from the Lorentz transformation of space and time coordinates.
- Time Dilation - http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/2000spring/PHY232/lectures/relativity/dilation.html
The gamma factor and time dilation can be derived using a very simple clock.
- Minkowski, Mathematicians, and the Mathematical Theory of Relativity - http://www.univ-nancy2.fr/DepPhilo/walter/papers/einstd7.pdf
Minkowski claimed scientific priority for a great, new, geometric theory of relativity at the Cologne lecture of 1908, based largely on the work of Poincaré. Poincaré was purposely excluded from the meeting. 42 pages.
- Special Relativity - http://casa.colorado.edu/~ajsh/sr/sr.shtml
Tutorial explains about the postulates, paradox, simulaneity, time dilation, Lorentz transformation constructions, spacetime wheel, and the Fitzgerald-Lorentz contraction. Page includes some animated illustrations.
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