Re: [Phys-l] Minkowski in the classroom (splinter from "how to proverelativity")

[Bernard Cleyet <bernardcleyet@redshift.com>]

Alibris is trying to get me to purchase French's "Special Relativity".  Since I found his "Vibrations and Waves"  very useful, I wonder if it is also, i.e. post 1908?

bc


On 2010, Aug 03, , at 20:57, Jeffrey Schnick wrote:

> Thomas Moore uses a spacetime approach in his introductory "textbook" (actually it is a set of six paperback books) "Six Ideas That Shaped Physics."  The whole set is very good but since his field is General Relativity I think you'll find his unit R - Laws of Physics are Frame-Independent to be exceptionally strong.
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu on behalf of Jeff Loats
> Sent: Tue 8/3/2010 5:47 PM
> To: Forum for Physics Educators
> Subject: [Phys-l] Minkowski in the classroom (splinter from "how to proverelativity")
>
>
>
> Hi John (Denker),
>
> I have seen these ideas of yours before (probably on this forum) and I
> always feel like they really do help with visualizing relativity.
>
> I am curious if you (or others) know of textbooks for Modern Physics that do
> SR using spacetime rather than what seems to be the more standard "time
> dilation & length contraction" version.
>
> Perhaps this is really about John Clements comments... that even students
> who have gotten past a year of calc-based physics may not have the vector
> skills to tackle relativity in this way.
>
> I certainly gain a lot of insight from it, and as I contemplate teaching SR
> to a new batch of physics sophomores in about a month I am left wondering
> why it is that few textbooks have taken that path.
>
> Jeff
>
> --
> Jeff Loats
> Metropolitan State College of Denver