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Classical relativity was established by Galileo to reconcile Copernican geocentrism with the absence of visible effects of the Earth's movements.
This website presents some results of the didactic intervention carried out in 2006 at the IES Pedra da Auga in Ponteareas (Galicia) with 4th year ESO students with the aim of verifying the effectiveness of a problem designed to provoke debate in around concepts of classical relativity.
Permanent sunset
An airline promotes one of its flights with the following advertisement:
You'll be able to enjoy a permanent sunset.
This refers to the flight from Stockholm (Sweden) to Montreal (Canada), crossing the North Atlantic Ocean at the latitude of Iceland (see the map).
The airplane passes through Iceland just at sunset. The beautiful sight of the sunset presents itself to the passengers' eyes as an immovable postcard.
Do you think this could happen?
Individual debate (in small groups)
Small group discussion. A student presents the heliocentric model with the help of a terrestrial globe, and the discussion arises when she states that the plane (which in the model is a pen) does not move.
The students' sentences are numbered and translated at the box to the right
L: The plane, more or less, leaves from… then, it takes off, and then, it's in the air, and you are the Sun, and I see you who are... you... are setting down, right? And then, the Earth turns, and the plane...
B: Sure
U: It's quiet.
E: Ho
B: But the plane moves.
E: The plane is moving towards Montreal.
L: What moves is the Earth. And that movement is … it’s … it’s relative, the movement of the plane
E: No
L: Yes.
E: No
L: Yes.
E: No, no, it's not relative.
Collective debate (animated by the teacher)
The mixed model is presented by this student in its essential elements:
Both the plane and the Earth move, and with opposite speeds.
The teacher tries to ensure that the students are coherent with the chosen reference system.
The atmosphere appears as a mediating element (and to a certain extent distracting), and a certain perplexity arises regarding the reality (or not) of the plane's movement.
In this debate (with 1st year Bac students) a strong discussion about the reality of the movement of the plane is evident. The professor seeks to expose the contradictions implicit in the mixed model, and concepts such as "opposition to the force of the Earth" emerge.
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