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Lesson Plan: World Lines in Minkowski Diagrams Physics
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to interpret the world lines of objects in Minkowski diagrams.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- state what an inertial reference frame is,
- recall that a Minkowski diagram shows the motion of a particle or object with a spatial coordinate on the and on the ,
- recall that because the axes chosen are and , the line shows the speed of light,
- recall that an object moving at in a Minkowski diagram is moving at the speed of light,
- identify the world lines of objects that are at rest,
- identify the world lines of objects that are moving at a constant, nonzero speed,
- identify the world lines of objects that do not move at a constant speed,
- identify the world lines of objects moving faster than the speed of light,
- interpret Minkowski diagrams that have multiple inertial frames shown on them and identify the motion of an object in any of the frames,
- identify lines of constant time in different reference frames,
- describe what a world line in one reference frame would look like to an observer in a different reference frame,
- recall that an object moving at the speed of light in one reference frame is moving at the speed of light in all reference frames and see this from Minkowski diagrams.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- classical mechanics,
- both the wave and particle nature of light,
- how light moves in free space.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- events in Minkowski diagrams,
- simultaneity in Minkowski diagrams,
- Minkowski diagrams of Galilean relativity.
