Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T16:09:23.838Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The relativistically rigid rod

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

J. E. Hogarth  and
W. H. McCrea
J. E. Hogarth
Affiliation:
Royal Holloway CollegeEnglefield Green, Surrey
W. H. McCrea
Affiliation:
Royal Holloway CollegeEnglefield Green, Surrey
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A relativistically rigid rod is defined as one along which any disturbance travels with the fundamental speed c without dissipation of energy. A necessary consequence of this definition is that the rod should satisfy a certain ‘equation of elasticity’. If this equation is satisfied, it is shown in accordance with relativistic mechanics that a disturbance of any amplitude is propagated along the (unstressed or stressed) rod with speed c and without dissipation. Consequently, the equation provides also a sufficient condition for rigidity in the sense defined.

Type
Research Article
Information
Mathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society , Volume 48 , Issue 4 , October 1952 , pp. 616 - 624
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge Philosophical Society 1952

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

(1)Bergmann, P. C.Introduction to the theory of relativity (New York, 1942), p. 128, equation (8.23).Google Scholar
(2)Clark, G. L.Proc. Camb. phil. Soc. 45 (1949), 405–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(3)McCrea, W. H.Relativity physics, 3rd ed. (London, 1949), p. 82, equation (206).Google Scholar
(4)McCrea, W. H.Sci. Proc. R. Dublin Soc. (N.S.), 26 (1952), 27–36.Google Scholar
(5)Synge, J. L.Sci. Proc. R. Dublin Soc. (N.S.), 26 (1952), 45–54.Google Scholar
(6)Tolman, R. C.Relativity, thermodynamics and cosmology (Oxford, 1934), p. 72, equation (37.7).Google Scholar