Two myths about special relativity

American Journal of Physics

Volumn 74, Issue 3, 2006, Pages 193-195

  Baierlein, Ralph ^a  

^a NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 33645159647     PISSN: 00029505     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1119/1.2151212     Document Type: Article

References (19)

1. W. H. Furry, "Lorentz transformation and the Thomas precession," Am. J. Phys. 23(8), 517-525 (1955). For the Standard context in my Sec. II, one can form linear combinations Δx′±Δ t′ and iterate them readily to obtain the finite Lorentz transformation. For the iteration, replace v/c in the infinitesimal transformation by r/n, where r is a finite constant; iterate n times; and then let n go to infinity. The finite Lorentz transformation emerges in terms of the parameter r, sometimes called the rapidity. The rapidity r satisfies the relationship v/c=tanh r, where v here is the finite relative speed of the two frames.
2. The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, edited by John Stachel, David C. Cassidy, Jürgen Renn, and Robert Schulmann (Princeton U.P., Princeton, NJ, 1989), Vol. 2, p. 307, note 5.
3. Reference 2, pp. 275-306.
4. Reference 2, p. 280.
5. Reference 2, p. 285.
6. Reference 2, p. 284.
7. H. M. Schwartz, "Einstein's first paper on relativity," Am. J. Phys. 45(1), 18-25 (1977). The author interprets the passage differently. In my opinion, Schwartz missed the insight into Einstein's reasoning that Banesh Hoffmann expressed in the remarks that I quote from Ref. 11.
8. For an indication of how the logic runs, see Refs. 12 and 13. For the context closest to Einstein's context, consult Ref. 13, take Alice's frame to correspond to Einstein's "stationary" frame, and let the relative motion of Bob and Alice have an arbitrary algebraic value. Alice uses the "principle of the constancy of the speed of light" in Einstein's 1905 sense. (The text on the lower half of p. 190 uses the modern meaning of the same phrase.).
9. W. Pauli, Theory of Relativity (Pergamon, New York, 1958), p. 5. (The German original was published in 1921.)
10. Philipp Frank, Einstein: His Life and Times (Knopf, New York, NY, 1947), pp. 54-55;
11. Robert B. Williamson, "Logical economy in Einstein's 'On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies,' " Stud. Hist. Philos. Sci. 8, 49-60 (1977);
12. Roberto Torretti, Relativity and Geometry (Pergamon, Elmsford, NY, 1983), pp. 54-61;
13. Harvey R. Brown and Adolfo Maia, Jr., "Light-speed constancy versus light-speed invariance in the derivation of relativistic kinematics," Br. J. Philos. Sci. 44, 381-407 (1993);
14. Robert Rynasiewicz, "The construction of the special theory: Some queries and considerations," in Einstein: The Formative Years, 1879-1909, edited by Don Howard and John Stachel (Birkhäuser, Boston, 2000) pp. 163, 167-169;
15. Alberto A. Martinez, "Kinematic subtleties in Einstein's first derivation of the Lorentz transformations," Am. J. Phys. 72(6), 790-798 (2004).
16. Reference 2, pp. 257 and 263-5.
17. Banesh Hoffmann, Relativity and Its Roots (Freeman, New York, 1983), p. 92.
18. Reference 11, pp. 92-94.
19. Ralph Baierlein, Newton to Einstein: The Trail of Light (Cambridge U.P., New York, 1992), pp. 185 and 188-191. Moreover, Chapter 8 presents direct experimental evidence that the speed of light is independent of the source's velocity.