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Nature of science:
Paradigm shift: Einstein realized that the law of conservation of momentum could not be maintained as a law of physics. He therefore deduced that in order for momentum to be conserved under all conditions, the definition of momentum had to change and along with it the definitions of other mechanics quantities such as kinetic energy and total energy of a particle. This was a major paradigm shift. (2.3)
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Understandings:
- Total energy and rest energy
- Relativistic momentum
- Particle acceleration
- Electric charge as an invariant quantity
- Photons
- MeV c–2 as the unit of mass and MeV c–1 as the unit of momentum
Applications and skills:
- Describing the laws of conservation of momentum and conservation of energy within special relativity
- Determining the potential difference necessary to accelerate a particle to a given speed or energy
- Solving problems involving relativistic energy and momentum conservation in collisions and particle decays
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Theory of knowledge:
- In what ways do laws in the natural sciences differ from laws in economics?
Utilization:
- The laws of relativistic mechanics are routinely used in order to manage the operation of nuclear power plants, particle accelerators and particle detectors
Aims:
- Aim 4: relativistic mechanics synthesizes knowledge on the behaviour of matter at speeds close to the speed of light
- Aim 9: the theory of relativity imposes one severe limitation: nothing can exceed the speed of light
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Guidance:
- Applications will involve relativistic decays such as calculating the wavelengths of photons in the decay of a moving pion [ð o → 2ã ]
- The symbol m0 refers to the invariant rest mass of a particle
- The concept of a relativistic mass that varies with speed will not be used
- Problems will be limited to one dimension
Data booklet reference:
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