arXiv subjects

Roberto Assumpcao

Publications and source records attributed to Roberto Assumpcao.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2005

Proposal of an experimental strategy to introduce relativity in elementary physics courses

This contribution shows that the main topics of Relativity can be discussed at an elementary level and in a considerable extent - including the formal results of "Time Dilation" and "Lorentz Contraction" - by a minor modification of the usual mathematical formalism employed to describe uniform and accelerated motion. The proposed strategy begins with a "free-fall" experiment, followed by a discussion of the results in order to include deviations of the experimental data with respect to the conventional kinematics model.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2002

Quadrimechanica "Motion:observation and detection"

Classical, Quantum and Relativistic mechanics elect time and space as fundamentals, extracting the measure of motion -velocity- from this static space-time platform. Conversely, the timelessness of Statistical mechanics computes the physical flow as an evolution of (dynamical) states which, at the end, comes to be what would be denoted as time. Moreover, the general structure of mechanics is such that the notion of observability is mixed up with that of measurability. In such a context, ignoring the distinction between "observable entities" and "measurable quantities", and projecting dynamical objects on a static background, the measured value of physical entities is taken as the true or real value of the entity. This contribution emphasises this distinction, correlating the concepts of "real values" and "experimental values" and indicating that motion is always underestimated in the spatiotemporal platform; following a gauge transformation, an argument centred on measurability favours a relational "non-relativistic" formulation, with potentially analogous predictions.

physics.gen-ph↗

arXiv2002

Quadrimechanica Entropy: the basis of mechanics

Classical, Quantum, Relativistic and Statistical: the four branches of mechanics. However, the Quattro Donna of Physics disagree even about the entities that are supposed to be fundamental, such as space, matter and time. In order to search for an union, this contribution considers Indeterminacy in a Classical context and takes a path based on a division that could be named factual as opposed to the conventional approach of cause and effects. This sets back a primary division between "observable entities" and "measurable quantities". Recovering the primordial Classical experiment and describing the "Free Fall" in terms of distinct times - the relaxation time of the ("falling") 'light' bodies (m1, m2,...); the characteristic time of the 'heavy' (M) body and the rate of change of the mechanical system [M, m1, m2, ...]- the procedure led to conclude that Newtonian Mechanics extracted data from a gedanken experiment. Developing the concept of evolution of states (Entropy), an argument centred on Observability favours a uniform formulation, at the cost of non-linear "Classical" equations.

physics.gen-ph↗