Lecture 31: A Tale of Two World Views: Special Relativity
What are space and time? To begin our exploration of the evolving\nUniverse, we must first understand what we mean by space and time.\nThis lecture contrasts the Newtonian view of the World, with its\nabsolute space and absolute time, with that of Einstein, who showed\nthat space and time were not absolute but relative constructs, and\nthat only spacetime, unified by light, was independent of the observer.\nThis requires such non-intuitive notions as the speed of light being\nthe same for all observers regardless of their motion, and that\nobservers moving relative to each other will agree on the same physical\nlaws and speed of light, but disagree on lengths, times, masses, etc.\nmeasured by applying those laws. This sets the stage for Einstein's\nrevision of the Law of Gravity, General Relativity, which we will\nreview in the following lecture.\nRecorded 2006 February 20 in 1008 Evans Laboratory on the Columbus campus\nof The Ohio State University.