UNIVERSIDAD DE SAN CARLOS DE GUATEMALA

FACULTAD DE INGENIERA
TECHNICAL ENGLISH
TECHNICAL ENGLISH I
TEACHER: SORAYA MARTINEZ
SECTION: M
Classical and Relativistic Mechanics
BYRON ALFONSO PAIZ CARDENAS 20140365
OSCAR GABRIEL FUENTES LANFUR 201403662
DANIEL FERNANDEZ DE LEON 201403!6"
#OSE FERNANDO PEREZ PEREZ 2014042!2
#OSE LUIS FUENTES $UIROA 20140421
Guatemala, May 8, 2014
Introduction
Let's start with the following situation: Try to imagine that you are an
omnipresent being , which means you can be both on the sidewalk and in
the interior of a car at the same time !our car goes in motion and not by
the grace of "od #hich means you can comfortably go on your vehicle is
due to a number of forces that interact in di$erent ways to enable this shift
seems simple Most of this work is due to the engine, and it is this last word
that many relate %rst from the moment in which we mentioned
&mechanical&' and that engine does not work by magic, this engine works
by someone who did an e(cellent )ob to allow that Returning to the
beginning, getting into a car to get to other places has become part of your
daily routine by various aspects, however' have you ever wondered which
branch of mechanics is what allows you to en)oy the comfort*
+ot so fast, the answer will come soon' for now consider the following
situation: ,eing in and out of the vehicle, you can appreciate the speed at
which the vehicle will focus on where the person out of it ' or raisins to
speed on par with the same person - bet your answer is this: -f - go on the
street the vehicle passes almost .ying, but if - 'm in the car happened very
slow pace with that person /owever, perhaps the speed is not the same*
#hat this phenomenon* There will be a branch of mechanics that is also
engaged in the study of that*
Soon you will know the answer, for now I invite you to continue
reading so you can solve the resective dou!t I have taken the
time to create your erson " #
$!%ectives
Raise awareness of the importance of the study and application of
mechanics in our daily lives
0now the diferences between Classical and Relativistics mechanics, and
their physics principles
Learn about the aplications of each of the branches of mechanics, and how
could it help in the development of new technologies
1(plain the physics principles involved in each brancn of the mechanics,
and know when to apply each
&lassical Mechanics
Classical mechanics describes the motion of every kind of ob)ects, from
rockets to parts of a bicycle, as well as astronomical ob)ects, such as
spacecraft, planets, stars, and gala(ies ,esides this, many speciali2ations
within the sub)ect deal with gases, li3uids, solids, and other speci%c
sub4topics Classical mechanics also provides e(tremely accurate results as
long as the domain of study is restricted to large ob)ects and the speeds
involved do not approach the speed of light
-n reality, the kind of ob)ects that classical mechanics can describe always
have a non42ero si2e 5b)ects with non42ero si2e have more complicated
behavior than hypothetical point particles, because of the additional
degrees of freedom: a baseball can spin while it is moving, for e(ample
/owever, the results for point particles can be used to study such ob)ects
by treating them as composite ob)ects, made up of a large number of
interacting point particles The center of mass of a composite ob)ect
behaves like a point particle
Classical mechanics uses common4sense notions of how matter and forces
e(ist and interact -t assumes that matter and energy have de%nite,
knowable attributes such as where an ob)ect is in space and its speed -t
also assumes that ob)ects may be directly in.uenced only by their
immediate surroundings, known as the principle of locality -n 3uantum
mechanics, an ob)ect may have either its position or velocity undetermined,
and may also instantaneously interact with other ob)ects at a distance
Classical mechanics were traditionally divided into three main branches:
6tatics, the study of e3uilibrium and its relation to forces
7ynamics, the study of motion and its relation to forces
0inematics, dealing with the implications of observed motions without
regard for circumstances causing them
1(amples of phenoma in that is involved classical mechanics
#hen 8 cars collide, classical mechanics study the aceleration, the
speed and the displacement of each car after the collide
6ince the end of the 89th century, the place of classical mechanics in
physics has been no longer that of an independent theory -nstead, classical
mechanics is now considered an appro(imate theory to the more general
3uantum mechanics 1mphasis has shifted to understanding the
fundamental forces of nature as in the 6tandard model and its more modern
e(tensions into a uni%ed theory of everything Classical mechanics is a
theory for the study of the motion of non43uantum mechanical, low4energy
particles in weak gravitational %elds -n the 8:st century classical
mechanics has been e(tended into the comple( domain and comple(
classical mechanics e(hibits behaviors very similar to 3uantum mechanics
'elativistic Mechanics
-n physics, relativistic mechanics refers to mechanics compatible with
special relativity ;6R< and general relativity ;"R< -t provides a non43uantum
mechanical description of a system of particles, or of a .uid, in cases where
the velocities of moving ob)ects are comparable to the speed of light c =s a
result, classical mechanics is e(tended correctly to particles traveling at
high velocities and energies, and provides a consistent inclusion of
electromagnetism with the mechanics of particles This was not possible in
"alilean relativity, where it would be permitted for particles and light to
travel at any speed, including faster than light The foundations of
relativistic mechanics are the postulates of special relativity and general
relativity The uni%cation of 6R with 3uantum mechanics is relativistic
3uantum mechanics, while attempts for that of "R is 3uantum gravity, an
unsolved problem in physics
=s with classical mechanics, the sub)ect can be divided into &kinematics&'
the description of motion by specifying positions, velocities and
accelerations, and &dynamics&' a full description by considering energies,
momenta, and angular momenta and their conservation laws, and forces
acting on particles or e(erted by particles There is however a subtlety'
what appears to be &moving& and what is &at rest&>which is termed by
&statics& in classical mechanics>depends on the relative motion of
observers who measure in frames of reference
=lthough some de%nitions and concepts from classical mechanics do carry
over to 6R, such as force as the time derivative of momentum ;+ewton's
second law<, the work done by a particle as the line integral of force e(erted
on the particle along a path, and power as the time derivative of work done,
there are a number of signi%cant modi%cations to the remaining de%nitions
and formulae 6R states that motion is relative and the laws of physics are
the same for all e(perimenters irrespective of their inertial reference
frames -n addition to modifying notions of space and time, 6R forces one to
reconsider the concepts of mass, momentum, and energy all of which are
important constructs in +ewtonian mechanics 6R shows that these
concepts are all di$erent aspects of the same physical 3uantity in much the
same way that it shows space and time to be interrelated Conse3uently,
another modi%cation is the concept of the center of mass of a system,
which is straightforward to de%ne in classical mechanics but much less
obvious in relativity 4 see relativistic center of mass for details
1(amples of the use of Relativistic Mechanics:
-nthe study of movements of particles 3uite small such as the
movement of the atoms in a determined space, or the movement of
the particles around the nucleous of an atom
&onclussions
!ou use Classical Mechanics when you are working with common ob)ects
that are involved in e3uilibrium and its relation to forces, or when they are
in motion and its relation to forces
!ou use Relativistic Mechanics when you are working with small particles
such as atoms or the particles inside them, you use it when the ob)ect that
you are studying is moving at high speed nearest the light speed in a
determined space
(i!liograhy
: C, ?arker ;:@@A< Mc"raw /ill 1ncyclopaedia of ?hysics ;8nd ed<
Mc"raw /ill
8 ?= Tipler, " Mosca ;899B< ?hysics for 6cientists and 1ngineers: #ith
Modern ?hysics ;Cth ed< #/ Dreeman and Co
E ?M #helan, MF /odgeson ;:@GB< 1ssential ?rinciples of ?hysics ;8nd
ed< Fohn Murray