A fun way to feel acceleration!

Last time I introduced some of the foundation concepts required for our exploration of Special Relativity. In particular, that the word “special” in this case refers to a specific kind of motion: constant motion in a straight line.

Which may have caused some of you to wonder: Okay, what about motion that isn’t constant (and what’s that business about “in a straight line” — why keep mentioning that)? As it turns out, when motion involves speeding up, or slowing down, or going along a curve (or even just changing direction), that changes the situation in very significant ways!

That’s what I’m going to discuss today.

Continue reading