Special Relativity

Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity
• Special Relativity (SR) is thought to be the correct description of unaccelerated (inertial reference frame) motion, with Newtonian Mechanics (NM) an adequate approximation at low relative speeds. However, a careful examination of the mathematical nature of Special Relativity (SR) shows that it can be derived directly from Newtonian Mechanics (NM) and in so doing, that there is an exact one-to-one relationship between the SR and NM description of a given physical situation. This is shown in detail in rel SR from NM.
• Furthermore, in the second paper referenced here, NM is mathematically derived directly and only from SR! An example of this equivalence: a relative velocity between reference frames (objects) of 0.6c in SR is the same as a relative velocity of 0.75c in NM. It gets better at higher velocities. This is completely detailed in “How to derive Newtonian Mechanics Directly from Only the Equations of Special Relativity”. Click rel NM from SR for this paper.
• A professor once said, “Don’t bite my finger. Look where I am pointing.” That applies here. I submitted the above two papers to Physical Review Letters for publication. When rejected, I asked the editor to email me why. He was very kind to take the time from his undoubtedly very busy schedule to answer:

“. . .were rejected because their basic claim, that Newtonian mechanics and special relativity are derivable from each other and are therefore equivalent, is wrong; these two theories make very different predictions about how particles behave at velocities near the speed of light.”

His answer tells me he doesn’t have a clue about what the two papers say. Among other things, he does not understand what the math shows about the qualitatively different nature of velocity between objects or reference frames in SR and NM. Read the above two papers for yourself. The math is not complicated. The implications are far reaching.
• Einstein published an interesting paper entitled “ Does The Inertia Of A Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?”. There is a lot to be learned from a re-examination of this paper. For this analysis and the paper, click here.
• It is a principal of Special Relativity (SR) that the Interval between two events is the same in all reference frames moving with respect to each other, where the definition of the Interval “I” is given in the above diagram. Using the Interval and the transform equations, a diagram similar to the above can always be constructed for two reference frames or objects moving with respect to each other. See the Correspondence Diagrams for NM and SR for the explanation.

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rel SR from NM
rel NM from SR
Energy & mass
Text for diagram below