Special relativity

Foundations
Consequences
  • Time dilation
  • Length contraction
  • Relativistic mass
  • Mass–energy equivalence
  • Relativity of simultaneity
  • Relativistic Doppler effect
  • Thomas precession
  • Relativistic disk
  • Bell's spaceship paradox
  • Ehrenfest paradox
Spacetime
  • Minkowski spacetime
  • Spacetime diagram
  • World line
  • Light cone
Dynamics
  • Proper time
  • Proper mass
  • Four-momentum
  • History
  • Precursors
  • Galilean relativity
  • Galilean transformation
  • Aether theories
  • Hyperbolic quaternions
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In physics, the special theory of relativity, or special relativity for short, is a scientific theory of the relationship between space and time. In Albert Einstein's 1905 paper, "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies", the theory is presented as being based on just two postulates:[p 1][1][2]

  1. The laws of physics are invariant (identical) in all inertial frames of reference (that is, frames of reference with no acceleration). This is known as the principle of relativity.
  2. The speed of light in vacuum is the same for all observers, regardless of the motion of light source or observer. This is known as the principle of light constancy, or the principle of light speed invariance.

The first postulate was first formulated by Galileo Galilei (see Galilean invariance).


Cite error: There are <ref group=p> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=p}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Griffiths, David J. (2013). "Electrodynamics and Relativity". Introduction to Electrodynamics (4th ed.). Pearson. Chapter 12. ISBN 978-0-321-85656-2.
  2. ^ Jackson, John D. (1999). "Special Theory of Relativity". Classical Electrodynamics (3rd ed.). John Wiley & Sons. Chapter 11. ISBN 0-471-30932-X.
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