PH-1001 (Physics-1)

Dr. A. K. Singh
Department of Physics & Astronomy
National Institute of Technology
Rourkela-769008
 Postulates of Special Relativity
The postulates of relativity as stated by Einstein (1905)
1. Equivalence of Physical Laws
The laws of physics are the same in all inertial frames
of reference.
2. Constancy of the Speed of Light
The speed of light in a vacuum, c = 3.00 x 108 m/s, is
the same in all inertial frames of reference,
independent of the motion of the source or the
receiver.

There is no absolute reference frame

of time and space
 Albert Einstein (1879–1955) was only two years
old when Michelson reported his first null
measurement for the existence of the ether.

 At the age of 16 Einstein began thinking about the

form of Maxwell’s equations in moving inertial
systems.

 In 1905, at the age of 26, he published his startling

proposal about the principle of relativity, which
he believed to be fundamental.
 Galilean transformations

Galilean Space-Time Transformation

Coordinates: x'  x  vt y'  y z'  z t'  t

dx' dx
Velocities: ux '    v  ux - v u y '  u y uz '  u z
dt ' dt
2 2
d x' d x
Accelerations: ax '  2  2  ax ay'  ay az '  az
dt ' dt
Newton’s Laws involving accelerations are invariant with
respect to Galilean transformations!
Time (t) for all observers is a Fundamental invariant, i.e.,
the same for all inertial observers.
 Inverse Galilean transformations
Step 1. Replace with .
Step 2. Replace “primed” quantities with “unprimed”
and “unprimed” with “primed.”

Drawbacks of GT transformation
1. Violates both of the postulate of special theory of relativity
[i] Same equations of physics in S and S, but the equations
of electricity and magnetism is entirely different.
[ii] c = c - v
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Go for different transformation
 The Transition to Modern Relativity

• Although Newton’s laws of motion had the same

form under the Galilean transformation,
Maxwell’s equations did not.
• In 1905, Albert Einstein proposed a fundamental
connection between space and time and that
Newton’s laws are only an approximation.

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 The Need for Ether
• The wave nature of light suggested that there
existed a propagation medium called the
luminiferous ether or just ether.
– Ether had to have such a low density that the planets could
move through it without loss of energy

– It also had to have an elasticity to support the high velocity of

light waves
– In Maxwell’s theory the speed of light, in terms of the
permeability and permittivity of free space, was given by

– Thus the velocity of light between moving systems must be

a constant.
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 Re-evaluation of Time

• In Newtonian physics we previously assumed

that t = t’
– Thus with “synchronized” clocks, events in S and S’
can be considered simultaneous

• Einstein realized that each system must have

its own observers with their own clocks and
meter sticks
– Thus events considered simultaneous in K may not
be in K’

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 The Lorentz Transformations
The special set of linear transformations that:

1) preserve the constancy of the speed of light (c)

between inertial observers;
and,
2) account for the problem of simultaneity between
these observers

known as the Lorentz transformation equations

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Lorentz Transformation Equations

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