The Special Theory of Relativity

by Bohm,David

• ISBN13: 9780415404259
• ISBN10: 0415404258
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2006-09-15
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

In this classic text, David Bohm explores Albert Einstein's celebrated theory of relativity through inspiring and visionary lectures. First published in 1905, Einstein's ideas forever transformed the way we think about time and space. Yet for Bohm the implications of the theory were far more revolutionary both in scope and impact even than this. Stepping back from dense theoretical and scientific detail in this eye-opening work, Bohm describes how the notion of relativity strikes at the heart of our very conception of the universe, whether we are physicists, philosophers or none of the above.

Table of Contents

FOREWORD	vii
PREFACE TO THE ROUTLEDGE CLASSICS EDITION	xi
PREFACE	xv
1 Introduction	1	(4)
2 Pre-Einsteinian notions of relativity	5	(7)
3 The problem of the relativity of the laws of electrodynamics	12	(5)
4 The Michelson–Morley experiment	17	(4)
5 Efforts to save the ether hypothesis	21	(6)
6 The Lorentz theory of the electron	27	(4)
7 Further development of the Lorentz theory	31	(6)
8 The problem of measuring simultaneity in the Lorentz theory	37	(6)
9 The Lorentz transformation	43	(5)
10 The inherent ambiguity in the meanings of space-time measurements, according to the Lorentz theory	48	(3)
11 Analysis of space and time concepts in terms of frames of reference	51	(7)
12 "Common-sense" notions of space and time	58	(5)
13 Introduction to Einstein's conceptions of space and time	63	(10)
14 The Lorentz transformation in Einstein's point of view	73	(6)
15 Addition of velocities	79	(5)
16 The principle of relativity	84	(5)
17 Some applications of relativity	89	(8)
18 Momentum and mass in relativity	97	(13)
19 The equivalence of mass and energy	110	(6)
20 The relativistic transformation law for energy and momentum	116	(5)
21 Charged particles in an electromagnetic field	121	(7)
22 Experimental evidence for special relativity	128	(5)
23 More about the equivalence of mass and energy	133	(11)
24 Toward a new theory of elementary particles	144	(4)
25 The falsification of theories	148	(10)
26 The Minkowski diagram and the K calculus	158	(17)
27 The geometry of events and the space-time continuum	175	(10)
28 The question of causality and the maximum speed of propagation of signals in relativity theory	185	(6)
29 Proper time	191	(4)
30 The "paradox" of the twins	195	(10)
31 The significance of the Minkowski diagram as a reconstruction of the past	205	(14)
APPENDIX: PHYSICS AND PERCEPTION	219	(57)
INDEX	276