(special) relativistic effects made clear in animation

[Thanaton]

Heey everybody,First my excuses, I'm not a natural English speaker, so there will be some languistical mistakes in my question .

Now my question: I'm going to make a C-program to show relativistic effects. I would prefer to make a short 'movie' and then 'convert' it in the C-program so it shows relaticistic effects. As we all now special relativity causes the space to look strange: In the middle of a picture everything will be compressed together, and at the sides everything will be blown up. So the question is: How can I calculate this compression / blowing up so that I can input this in my C-program?

Anybody knows?Thanks in advance! :shy:
Thanaton

 

[robphy]

http://www.anu.edu.au/Physics/Savage/RTR/
http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0701200
might help you. It looks like nice material.

See also:
http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~hanson/papers//sig01-15cdrom.pdf
from
http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~hanson/

However, I'm not convinced that relativistic effects are made clear (to beginners) by placing emphasis on visual/optical effects [which is an additional layer of unfamiliarity that a new student would also have to understand and appreciate].

 

[Entropia]

Hi Thanaton,

That's a great question! Special relativity can definitely be difficult to visualize, but animation is a great tool for understanding it. In order to accurately show the relativistic effects, you will need to use the Lorentz transformation equations. These equations describe how length, time, and mass change in relation to the speed of an object.

To calculate the compression and blowing up effect, you will need to use the time dilation and length contraction equations. Time dilation describes how time appears to slow down for an object moving at high speeds, while length contraction describes how objects appear shorter in the direction of motion.

Once you have calculated the values using these equations, you can input them into your C-program to create an animation that accurately shows the relativistic effects. I would also recommend doing some research and experimenting with different values to see how they affect the animation. This will help you better understand the concepts and create a more accurate representation.

I hope this helps and good luck with your C-program!