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Questioning Relativity
By Dr. Sean D. PitmanJune 2000
Albert Einstein was born in 1879 and died in 1955. He didn't start talking until he was three, and at age ninehe still didn't talk very well. Everyone thought he was retarded. However, he got smarter.In 1905, Albert Einstein published a paper in which he first proposed the theory of special relativity,thereby sowing the seeds of a revolution in the field of physics. Einstein based this theory upon two postulates:
•
The laws of physics are the same for all frames of reference moving with a constant velocityrelative to one another.
•
The speed of light in free space is the same for all inertial observers.
 
At first glance, these two postulates appear rather simple and harmless. After all, Sir Isaac Newton hadcome up with the first one himself during the 17
th
Century. However, the second postulate really messeswith one’s mind once it’s ramifications are understood. Simply stated, the second postulate declares thatlight,
 
or a photon of light, is the only substance in the universe which has no relative speed or velocity. Thevelocity of every other type of matter or energy can only be determined as it relates to outside reference points. In other words, there is no way to tell if you are moving unless you compare yourself to somethingin your surroundings. Your movement is therefore “relative movement.” It can now be declared bydefinition that relative to one’s self or one’s own “frame of reference” that there is no movement at all. Allvelocities, outside of self (which is not moving), are just that… outside of self. So, it is everything else thatis moving, while I remain still. However, according to Einstein, this is not true for light. By the definitionin his second postulate, light is defined as moving or as having a defined velocity. While everything else isdefined as being motionless at relative velocities, light is defined as having velocity. This makes everyother velocity relative to the velocity of light. In other words, everything is motionless relative to lighteven though things may be moving relative to each other. If there is a jet airplane flying through the air and a baby crawling on the ground, obviously the jet is going faster… right? Not according to the photonof light. Einstein’s second postulate says that both the baby and the jet are going the same speed relative tolight. In other words, the photon thinks that neither one of them are moving at all because it arrives at boththe jet and the baby at the same speed that it arrives at everything else with… the speed of light (“c” , or about 186,000 miles/sec). The speed of light is therefore the ultimate speed by definition. Nothing can gofaster than it by definition since all speed is relative to it. Quite an interesting claim isn’t it? What lead tothis idea? Is there evidence to support such a strange notion?
In 1887 Michelson & Morely
 performed the most famous experiments involving relative movement. Inthe 1800s, physicists believed in an ether - a medium through which light propagated. Light was a wave,and just as water needs to exist to allow waves to roll through the ocean, there must be some substance thatallows light waves to move throughout the universe.
 
The idea of the experiment was very simple: to show the existence of ether. If ether exists, the earth travelsthrough a universe full of ether. As the earth moves through that ether, light on the earth must change itsspeed depending on whether the earth is moving with or against the ether "wind", much like the "Doppler effect" which makes sound change pitch as it passes a stationary observer.Michelson and Morely set up an experiment to measure the “speed of light” in any direction. A verysensitive measuring device was constructed on a rotating platform and measurements were taken in alldirections. The results were unexpected: light speed was measured as the same value in all directions.Michelson even improved his experiment and performed it over and over form many years, but with thesame results.
 
The apparatus, shown above, was a massive stone block with mirrors and crisscrossing light beams, givingan accurate measurement of any change in the velocity of light. Michelson and Morley expected to see their light beams shifted by the swift motion of the earth in space. To their surprise, they could not detect anychange.
2
 
The source of light is at
 s
, the 45 degree line is the half-silvered mirror,
b
and
c
are mirrors and d theobserver.A beam of light was divided along two paths at right angles to each other, and the rays were reflectedand combined, producing interference fringes where the two beams met. According to theory, if theinterferometer was rotated the two beams of light would interchange their relation to the ether, and ashift of interference fringes would occur. Michelson and Morley failed to find this shift.Interpherence “fringes” showing no change as the interpherometer is rotated(G. Joos, Lehrbuch der Theoretischen Physik, Akademische Verlags., Leipzig, 1930)
This experiment of Michelson and Morely shook the world of physics. Many explanations were tried as towhy the experiment had “failed.” None was very convincing until Einstein published his famous Theory of Special Relativity in 1905. Even though it is arguable that Einstein was not exposed or influences to anysignificant degree by the experiment of Michelson and Morely, his theory seemed to explain it. Einstein’stheory also gave testable predictions. Basically, Einstein completely did away with the theory of ether andstated that light propagated itself as an electro-magnetic wave traveling through a Space-Time continuum.Making everything relative to the speed of light meant that certain phenomenon would take place withincreasing velocity relative to the speed of light. With increasing velocity time would slow down, lengthwould shorten, mass would increase, and acceleration would change the frame of reference.
Special Relativity
As stated above, Special Relativity assumes the constant speed of light as measured by any observer regardless of the observers relative speed compared with that of any other observer. So, all observers willmeasure the same speed for light no matter what velocities they may be traveling relative to each other.For example: If I am standing in an airplane traveling at 500mph and I shoot a gun and the bullet travels at500mph from the back of the plane to the front of the plane, how fast is the bullet traveling relative to themountain that the plane is flying towards? One would think that this is simple addition and the bulletwould be traveling 1000mph…. And one would be correct. However, Einstein’s theory says that this doesnot hold true for photons or 
anything 
as the speed of light is approached. If I am in a rocket traveling 1/2caway from earth and I shine a flashlight ahead of me to see where I am going… how fast are the photonsgoing in front of me? 1 ½ c right?…. Wrong! Einstein says that photons always go the speed of lightrelative to EVERYTHING else and every other frame of reference. So, the photon would be going only thespeed of light ahead of me and NOT 1 ½ c. This is a pretty strange thought and often called “counter intuitive.”Because of this property of light, time also slows down with increased speed. According to Einstein, as oneapproaches the absolute speed of light, time approaches zero. With this theory, he proposed the famous“twin scenario” in which one twin leaves earth in a rocket ship traveling close to the speed of light whilethe other twin stays on earth. When the twin in the rocket ship comes back after what he thinks are only afew minutes, he finds not the twin he left, but his great grandchildren! As a thought example, Einstein usedthe following illustration concerning “light clocks.”
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