A four-dimensional Euclidean geometry for relativistic phenomena: kinematics

• Autor(a) principal: Almeida, Otávio Fossa de
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Caderno Brasileiro de Ensino de Física (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/fisica/article/view/77562

The general goal of this article is to open a new line of discussion in teaching of modern relativity of motion, offering a four-dimensional Euclidean geometric approach which adopts proper time as the fourth Cartesian axis. This initiative is because many observe severe barriers to attempt to do transpositions of the relativistic phenomena to basic education when necessary, mainly because Special Theory of Relativity (STR) is very abstract, and Minkowskian Spacetime Theory (STT) and General Theory of Relativity (GTR) requires a non-Euclidean geometry. In this context, this new geometry is mainly focused on the training of teachers, who are the creators of these transpositions, and has the specific goal of exploring its functionality in describing exclusively the relativistic kinematics, without defining a quantity to describe the change of movement, discussing the problems of time dilation, composition of movements, length contraction and the “paradoxes” of twins, contraction of space, and rigidly rotating disk. This specific goal is important because these six problems are not only historically relevant, but also serve as a laboratory to test the validity of this new geometry, which, although equivalent to STR and STT, has its internal cohesion.