Hello

Did einstein do any experiments that would be available as a classroom activity??? If so let me know.

Joe

Most of the relativistic effects that I know about involve pretty high velocities that you really won't be able to get in a classroom.

You might be able to do some sort of EM relativity experiment in a classroom. I mean you may be able to set up a situation where one object sees a magnetic field and another sees an electric field. But that might be a little technical for students to really grasp on an instinctive level.

-Dale

I remember doing the photoelectric effect in a highschool experiment back in the eighties.

Hello

Did einstein do any experiments that would be available as a classroom activity??? If so let me know.

Joe

Here is a site that has many cool experiments for the classroom. Look at the Magnets page.

Let me know if you like it.

http://www.unitednuclear.com/

Yeah thats pretty good, but how could i invoke the theory of relativity in a classroom.

Joe

Yeah thats pretty good, but how could i invoke the theory of relativity in a classroom.

Joe

How about the Sagnac affect and solid state gyroscopes?

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http://www.mathpages.com/rr/s2-07/2-07.htm

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The result of measurements shows that, in ambient space, the light is propagated with a speed V0, independent of the overall movement of the source of light O and optical system.

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Today such devices are routinely used in guidance and navigation systems for commercial airliners, nautical ships, spacecraft, and in many other applications, and are capable of detecting rotation rates as slight as 0.00001 degree per hour.
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Hi Joe,
You could do Galilean relativity in a classroom to present the idea of reference frames and how Newtonian physics is the same in moving frames.

One that I remember is to have two falling balls, one of which also has horizontal motion. Eg one ball rolls off the end of a table at the same time as another ball is released from the same height. Both balls stay at the same height during their fall.
It's interesting to analyse this situation in a number of frames:
1) the lab frame
2) the horizontally moving frame
3) the free-fall frame of the vertically falling ball
4) the free-fall frame of the rolling ball

I also recall reading about an experiment that demonstrates the spirit of the general equivalence principle, specifically that free-falling frames are equivalent to inertial frames:
A frame is constructed to hold two parallel walls, like the sides of a box.
There is a small hole in each wall.
A projectile launcher of some kind is mounted at the first hole, aimed to fire through the firest hole in the precise direction of the second.
If the projectile is fired, it will obviously not go through the second hole because it falls away from the line.
However, if the projectile is fired while the entire apparatus is in freefall, the projectile follows a straight line in the free-falling frame and passes through the second hole.

I remember seeing a diagram and a better explanation online somewhere, but I'm damned if I can find it now.

Pete

Hey thats some pretty ingenious stuff, thx guys,

Joe