Main Table of Contents

  0: Introduction
  1: Reference frames
  2: Events and observers
  3: Light can travel through a vacuum
  4: Speed of light: absolute
  5: Simultaneity, or the lack thereof
  6: Spacetime diagrams
  7: Interactive problem: Conduct Einstein's simultaneity experiment
  8: Time dilation
  9: Interactive checkpoint: time dilation
10: Exploring and deriving time dilation
11: Interactive problem: Experiment with the light clock
12: Length contraction
13: Exploring and deriving length contraction
14: Lorentz transformation equations
15: Sample problem: apply the Lorentz transformations
16: Relative velocity at relativistic speeds
17: Lorentz transformation equations and relative velocities
18: Interactive checkpoint: Lorentz transformations and baseball
19: Doppler shift for light
20: Derivation: Doppler shift equation
21: Transverse Doppler effect
22: Relativistic linear momentum
23: Mass and energy
24: “E equals mc squared”: a thought experiment
25: Total energy: relativistic vs. Newtonian kinetic energy
26: Interactive checkpoint: accelerated electron
27: Gotchas
28: Summary

Quiz Boards

Problems