Tracing Difficulties With Relativistically Invariant Mass To Difficulties With Vector Addition Of Momentum In Newtonian Contexts

home » Conference Proceedings Detail Page

Detail Page

written by Andrew Boudreaux

For effective transfer of knowledge, it is necessary to break the transfer of conceptual difficulties. In physics courses that include special relativity, students are expected to relate the invariant mass of a system to the energy and momentum of the individual particles that make it up. Many have difficulty doing so. Student responses indicate that some difficulties stem from a failure to treat energy-momentum as a four-vector. Introductory students experience related difficulties in a purely non-relativistic context: many fail to take the vector nature of three-momentum into account when relating the momentum of a system to the momenta of its constituents. Results suggest that these difficulties are widespread, and not necessarily resolved through the study of advanced topics.

Physics Education Research Conference 2004
Part of the PER Conference Invited Paper series
Sacramento, California: August 4-5, 2004
Volume 790, Pages 35-38

download 129kb .pdf
Published: September 1, 2005

Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Classical Mechanics - General Education Foundations - Assessment - Student Characteristics = Ability	- Lower Undergraduate - Graduate/Professional - Upper Undergraduate	- Reference Material = Research study

Intended Users	Formats	Ratings
- Researchers - Educators	- application/pdf - non-digital	Currently 0.0/5 Want to rate this material? Login here!

Mirror:: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2084695
Access Rights:: Available by subscription and
Available for purchase
Restriction:: © 2004 American Institute of Physics
DOI:: 10.1063/1.2084695
PACSs:: 01.40.Fk; 01.40.Gm; 03.30.+p
Keywords:: PERC 2004, conceptual difficulty, educational courses, special relativity, transfer of difficulty, transfer of knowledge
Record Cloner:: Metadata instance created October 15, 2009 by Alea Smith
Record Updated:: July 8, 2013 by Lyle Barbato
Other Collections:: The PER-Central

Post a new comment on this item

ComPADRE is beta testing Citation Styles!

Record Link

<a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/items/detail.cfm?ID=9526">Boudreaux, Andrew. "Tracing Difficulties With Relativistically Invariant Mass To Difficulties With Vector Addition Of Momentum In Newtonian Contexts." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2004, Sacramento, California, August 4-5, 2004.</a>

AIP Format

A. Boudreaux, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2004, Sacramento, California, 2004, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9526&DocID=3467).

AJP/PRST-PER

A. Boudreaux, Tracing Difficulties With Relativistically Invariant Mass To Difficulties With Vector Addition Of Momentum In Newtonian Contexts, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2004, Sacramento, California, 2004, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9526&DocID=3467>.

APA Format

Boudreaux, A. (2004, August 4-5). Tracing Difficulties With Relativistically Invariant Mass To Difficulties With Vector Addition Of Momentum In Newtonian Contexts. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2004, Sacramento, California. Retrieved October 13, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9526&DocID=3467

Chicago Format

Boudreaux, Andrew. "Tracing Difficulties With Relativistically Invariant Mass To Difficulties With Vector Addition Of Momentum In Newtonian Contexts." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2004, Sacramento, California, August 4-5, 2004. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9526&DocID=3467 (accessed 13 October 2024).

MLA Format

Boudreaux, Andrew. "Tracing Difficulties With Relativistically Invariant Mass To Difficulties With Vector Addition Of Momentum In Newtonian Contexts." Physics Education Research Conference 2004. Sacramento, California: 2004. 35-38 Vol. 790 of PER Conference Invited Paper. 13 Oct. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9526&DocID=3467>.

BibTeX Export Format

@inproceedings{ Author = "Andrew Boudreaux", Title = {Tracing Difficulties With Relativistically Invariant Mass To Difficulties With Vector Addition Of Momentum In Newtonian Contexts}, BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2004}, Pages = {35-38}, Address = {Sacramento, California}, Series = {PER Conference Invited Paper}, Volume = {790}, Month = {August 4-5}, Year = {2004} }

Refer Export Format

%A Andrew Boudreaux %T Tracing Difficulties With Relativistically Invariant Mass To Difficulties With Vector Addition Of Momentum In Newtonian Contexts %S PER Conference Invited Paper %V 790 %D August 4-5 2004 %P 35-38 %C Sacramento, California %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9526&DocID=3467 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2004 %O August 4-5 %O application/pdf

EndNote Export Format

%0 Conference Proceedings %A Boudreaux, Andrew %D August 4-5 2004 %T Tracing Difficulties With Relativistically Invariant Mass To Difficulties With Vector Addition Of Momentum In Newtonian Contexts %B Physics Education Research Conference 2004 %C Sacramento, California %V 790 %P 35-38 %S PER Conference Invited Paper %8 August 4-5 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=9526&DocID=3467

Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.

Citation Source Information

The AIP Style presented is based on information from the AIP Style Manual.

The APA Style presented is based on information from APA Style.org: Electronic References.

The Chicago Style presented is based on information from Examples of Chicago-Style Documentation.

The MLA Style presented is based on information from the MLA FAQ.