Slow-motion approximation
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In physics, the slow-motion approximation is an approximation that is used in relativistic mechanics where the speed of an object under consideration is significantly less than the speed of light.
The approximation is sometimes used as a simplifying assumption in many analyses of motion.
[edit] Background
In developing his theory of relativity, Albert Einstein discovered that objects moving at speeds close to that of light obey different laws of motion from those stipulated in Newtonian mechanics. However, these relativistic laws should give almost identical results (within experimental error) as their Newtonian counterparts when the object's speed is much less than that of light. The slow-motion approximation thus acts as a consistency measure for the two theories of Newtonian and relativistic mechanics. This is an instance of the correspondence principle in action.
