Space and Time in Special Relativity: A History with Activities, WebQuest, and Curiosities

The rise of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity in the early twentieth century was one of the great revolutions of physics. The theory itself was the result of a construction that re-signified the view of the world in which we live. To get an idea, it was necessary to abandon centuries-old basic physical concepts such as absolute space and time, the idea of simultaneity of events for two observers, and even laws such as Newton's principle of dynamics, the conservation of amount of movement and the conservation of mechanical energy.In this study material, which may or may not be associated with an internet-oriented consultation task, we especially explore the change in space and time conceptions. To do so, we use a path that runs through physics, history and philosophy of science with the intention of treating fundamental scientific contents that help in the new understanding of the union of space and time without, however, leaving aside an approach of the nature of science when considering the creation of theory as a historical, social, non-rigid, problematic activity and the result of a rupture process.Among the subjects covered here are: the cosmic rays and the average life of the muon; the unification of electromagnetism and optics by Maxwell; the constant velocity of light and the non-invariance of Maxwell's equations in Galileo's transformations; attempts to detect the velocity of the earth relative to the ether, the Lorentz-FitzGerald contraction to space, and the Lorentz transformations; the problem of the electrodynamics of moving bodies and the change in conception of space and time; the problem of the average life span of muons; the incompatibility of the concepts of space and time in Newtonian and Einsteinian theories according to Thomas S. Kuhn.Thus, the intention is to stimulate and strengthen the study of topics of modern and contemporary physics, especially in high school, which is the case of the notion of spacetime of the theory of relativity. Students and teachers alike are expected, although it may also be interesting for readers curious about the subject, to enjoy this study material and the guided consultation task created for use on the Internet.