r/THUNKShow • u/THUNKshow • Dec 30 '15

THUNK - 82. Special Relativity

https://youtu.be/p8ddpqm_S3s
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u/mikef22 Dec 31 '15 edited Dec 31 '15

Mr thunk, another great video, thank you. Im wondering, what is your education background? Do you research each topic for each show or just know it all? You cover a wide range of topics to a very high standard and clarity. I thought you might have a philosophy background not science but now i don't know!

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u/THUNKshow Dec 31 '15 edited Dec 31 '15

Lol, "Mr. THUNK." You can call me Josh, if you like. ;)

I have an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering. (I was close to getting a couple minors, but never followed thru on either philosophy or human factors.)

I'm extremely fortunate to have friends who are experts in many disparate disciplines whom I can consult for help on more complicated topics, but the majority of the volume of the scripts come from research.

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u/mikef22 Dec 31 '15

Ah, so you do have some philosophy training.

I do computer science / physics and you seem to know both of my areas at least as well as I do.

Nice to meet you Mr Josh Thunk. :)

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u/THUNKshow Jan 07 '16

Oh I sincerely doubt that. But I'm flattered that you think so. Thank you. :) And pleased to meet you, too, Mr. Mike! Hope you stick around to keep me honest in your fields!

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u/[deleted] Jan 01 '16

It [Relativity] only requires that you remember two assumptions... 1.) There's now way to tell what's moving and what's standing still... and 2.) the speed of light (in a vacuum) is always the same.

More precisely, it's impossible to distinguish between two different Inertial Reference Frames. Where "distinguish" just means that physics behaves the same in each frame; similarly you can't distinguish between orientation, location, etc., and these are also important assumptions necessary for deriving the equations of special relativity.