Is Relativity Too Complex for Young Students to Grasp?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mad1kas
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Relativity
Mad1kas
Messages
9
Reaction score
0
hello people of physics,

i am a 14 year old boy from Greece and i am generaly attracted to physics...but...relativity has caused me some troubles...
for some reason i haven't found an understandable guide to understand relativity..
i don't know if my intelligence growth is enough to understand it but worths giving it a try!

what i would like to know is if anyone of you is willing to help me understand it or share with me an understanble guide !

with respect to my co-physicians,
mad1kas
 
Physics news on Phys.org
The people here probably know better books than the ones I've read, but from layman to layman I'd highly recommend Banesh Hoffmann's "Relativity and its Roots", by far the most comprehensible explanation of special and general relativity I've read so far (wikipedia's articles are great too).

I looked up Hoffmann's book and it's even available as a google book:
ht_tp://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=JokgnS1JtmMC&dq=relativity+and+it's+roots&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=_UViyEBijK&sig=Au5OLcS-2UKeNkYEI0-DN4NIEAA

(Remove the _ in http to get the address, I haven't got to the 15 posts threshold I'm required to cross before posting URL's :P)
 
Thank you my friend i really appreciate your assisstance...
Though, i don't think my English is enough improved to understand this entire book so i would like to look for something in my language so that it would be more comprehensible and easier for me to understand !

i will look up for Hoffman's book in Greek and anyone's else our co-physicians will suggest...
 
I rather doubt that many people here are acquainted with physics books in Greek, but maybe you'll get lucky!
 

Thread 'Question about Parallel Transport'

In this video I can see a person walking around lines of curvature on a sphere with an arrow strapped to his waist. His task is to keep the arrow pointed in the same direction How does he do this ? Does he use a reference point like the stars? (that only move very slowly) If that is how he keeps the arrow pointing in the same direction, is that equivalent to saying that he orients the arrow wrt the 3d space that the sphere is embedded in? So ,although one refers to intrinsic curvature...
View full post »

Thread 'Synchronizing clocks in an inertial frame if light is anisotropic'

ASSUMPTIONS 1. Two identical clocks A and B in the same inertial frame are stationary relative to each other a fixed distance L apart. Time passes at the same rate for both. 2. Both clocks are able to send/receive light signals and to write/read the send/receive times into signals. 3. The speed of light is anisotropic. METHOD 1. At time t[A1] and time t[B1], clock A sends a light signal to clock B. The clock B time is unknown to A. 2. Clock B receives the signal from A at time t[B2] and...
View full post »

Thread 'Trying to calculate proper time of worldlines using rotating frames'

So, to calculate a proper time of a worldline in SR using an inertial frame is quite easy. But I struggled a bit using a "rotating frame metric" and now I'm not sure whether I'll do it right. Couls someone point me in the right direction? "What have you tried?" Well, trying to help truly absolute layppl with some variation of a "Circular Twin Paradox" not using an inertial frame of reference for whatevere reason. I thought it would be a bit of a challenge so I made a derivation or...
View full post »

Similar threads

I Physical Difference Between Co- and Contravariant Vectors
Replies
6
Views
1K
I Special Relativity: Grokking for a Female Neurobiologist in her 60s
Replies
7
Views
1K
B Any plausible explanation for dynamical length contraction?
2
Replies
83
Views
5K
B The Strong Energy Condition in General Relativity
Replies
6
Views
3K
B Linking Quantum Physics and Relativity: Theory of Everything?
Replies
16
Views
2K
I Is Mathematics a Paradigm of Truth in General Relativity?
Replies
1
Views
1K
B Can an Object Exceed the Speed of Light?
Replies
12
Views
2K
I Gravity on Earth: Basic Qs Answered by Physicists
Replies
8
Views
1K
I Apparent Violations of Principle of Relativity?
Replies
2
Views
1K
I Noether's second theorem: two questions
Replies
7
Views
3K

Hot Threads

Recent Insights

Back
Top