Ed Schweber (edschweb@ix.netcom.com)
Physics Teacher at The Solomon Schechter Day School, West Orange, NJ
To obtain free resources for creative physics teachers visit: http://www.physicsweb.com
Hi gang:
The problem with the week long February break many schools have, besides
that it wastes class time, is that it gives us teachers too much time to
think.
Anyway, I was wondering: Since in special relativity, momentum and energy
are merged into a single four vector whose components will be different for
different moving observers, does that mean that the amount of heat lost in
an inelastic collision is relative to the observer?
If so, what does that do to specific heats and latent heats. Do these
also become relativistic quantities?
What about Kelvin temperature. Is that absolute or relativistic? Kelvin
temperature is proportional to the average KE per molecule and would not
that average KE be relative to the motion of the observer?
Thanks in advance for any input and I promise in the future that I will
stop trying to think.