Abstract
In classical kinematics the motion of an object is a function from a time-axis to the set of possible positions of the object in space. Time is absolute in the sense that the time-axis is an omnipresent clock. When it is 12 o’clock in the origin, it is 12 o’clock in the entire space. In 1905 Einstein published a paper that shook the world. In this chapter we discuss the birth of the theory of special relativity. In order to explain the phenomena it turned out to be necessary to give up the absolute character of time and not only that. We also describe the twin-paradox.
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Notes
- 1.
I owe this distinction to Janssen (2009), p. 28. For some authors this is a sensitive issue. They seem to find it misleading to use the word kinematics in the broad sense of the word. See also Janssen (2009).
- 2.
Martínez (2009), p. 121.
- 3.
Cf. John Stachel’s essay ‘What Song the Syrens Sang’: How Did Einstein Discover Special Relativity? in Stachel (2002).
- 4.
Einstein (1905), p. 891.
- 5.
Ibidem.
- 6.
It has been questioned whether the Michelson-Morley experiment did indeed influence Einstein in a direct way. It probably did. See Van Dongen (2009).
- 7.
Einstein’s autobiography in Schilpp (1951), p. 53.
- 8.
Mach (1907), p. 224.
- 9.
Miller (1981), p. 393.
- 10.
Josef Sauter, 50 Jahre Relativitätstheorie, Reprinted in Flükiger (1974), p. 156.
- 11.
Galison (2000), p. 365.
- 12.
The introduction of the new variable x’ = x − v ⋅ t has led to discussions in the literature. See Miller (1981), pp. 208–209 and Martínez (2009), pp. 325–331.
- 13.
Lorentz (1913), p. 36.
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Koetsier, T. (2024). Albert Einstein, the Kinematics of Special Relativity. In: A History of Kinematics from Zeno to Einstein. History of Mechanism and Machine Science, vol 46. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39872-8_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39872-8_17
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