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ERIC Number: EJ892011
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007-May
Pages: 4
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0031-921X
EISSN: N/A
Graphical Representation of the Doppler Shift: Classical and Relativistic
Rojas, R.; Fuster, G.
Physics Teacher, v45 n5 p306-309 May 2007
The Doppler shift is a frequency change of a repetitive effect, as measured by a receiver, due to the motion of the wave emitter, to the motion of the wave receiver, or both. A demonstration of the effect is provided by the sound of a car's horn that changes from a higher pitch to a lower pitch when a car drives past. Most derivations of the Doppler formula assume sinusoidal waves. We want to call the attention of readers to a derivation that uses a graphical representation based on a graph of position versus time. We will adopt a particle model of machine gun bullets fired at a constant period, thus getting a derivation that just requires the knowledge of kinematics. Furthermore, we will explain how to introduce the time dilation in order to get the formula for the relativistic Doppler shift.
American Association of Physics Teachers. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740. Tel: 301-209-3300; Fax: 301-209-0845; e-mail: pubs@aapt.org; Web site: http://scitation.aip.org/tpt
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A