Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- PART I THE PRINCIPLE OF RELATIVITY IN RELATION TO GENERAL PHYSICAL THEORY
- CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
- CHAPTER II THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPT OF THE AETHER
- CHAPTER III THE ELECTRON THEORY
- CHAPTER IV CORRELATION OF STATIONARY AND MOVING SYSTEMS
- CHAPTER V EINSTEIN ON THE RELATIVITY OF SPACE AND TIME
- CHAPTER VI THE KINEMATICS OF EINSTEIN
- CHAPTER VII THE ELECTRON THEORY OF MATTER
- PART II MINKOWSKI'S FOUR-DIMENSION WORLD
- PART III THE TRANSITION TO MECHANICAL THEORY
- INDEX
- SELECTION FROM THE GENERAL CATALOGUE OF BOOKS PUBLISHED BY THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION
from PART I - THE PRINCIPLE OF RELATIVITY IN RELATION TO GENERAL PHYSICAL THEORY
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 September 2017
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- PART I THE PRINCIPLE OF RELATIVITY IN RELATION TO GENERAL PHYSICAL THEORY
- CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
- CHAPTER II THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPT OF THE AETHER
- CHAPTER III THE ELECTRON THEORY
- CHAPTER IV CORRELATION OF STATIONARY AND MOVING SYSTEMS
- CHAPTER V EINSTEIN ON THE RELATIVITY OF SPACE AND TIME
- CHAPTER VI THE KINEMATICS OF EINSTEIN
- CHAPTER VII THE ELECTRON THEORY OF MATTER
- PART II MINKOWSKI'S FOUR-DIMENSION WORLD
- PART III THE TRANSITION TO MECHANICAL THEORY
- INDEX
- SELECTION FROM THE GENERAL CATALOGUE OF BOOKS PUBLISHED BY THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Summary
The Relativity of the Newtonian Dynamics.
It is a commonplace observation in respect of Newtonian dynamics that although the fundamental laws assume at the outset an absolute frame of reference, yet they are not sufficient to determine uniquely what that frame of reference must be; or in other words, although to every moving point a velocity is assigned, yet the laws of dynamics as stated by Newton are not sufficient to determine a velocity which, more than any other arbitrary velocity, can be said to be the velocity of any particular point. Put more definitely, it is known that if any set of axes in space can be specified relative to which the laws of dynamics are satisfied by a system of bodies, then any other set of axes which moves continually with a constant velocity of translation and with no rotation relatively to the former set, is also a valid framework for the dynamics of the same system of bodies.
It is important to distinguish this dynamical relativity from any philosophic dogma as to the a priori impossibility of the mind conceiving of an absolute position or motion in space. For such a proposition would be of much wider content than that stated above.
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- Information
- The Principle of Relativity , pp. 1 - 10Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011