Re: Conversation with Edwin Taylor (Spacetime Physics)

From: Tom Roberts (tjroberts_at_lucent.com)
Date: 06/26/04 

Date: Sat, 26 Jun 2004 03:39:07 GMT

Pmb wrote:
> Einstein postulated (1)
> the principle of relativity and (2) the invariance of the speed of light.

All too many people around here think that, and thus conclude that
Einstein was crazy to make such an outrageous assumption as your (2).

In actual fact, Einstein did NOT make your assuption (2). His actual
second postulate is "Any ray of light moves in the 'stationary' system
of coordinates with the determined velocity c, whether the ray be
emitted by a stationary or by a moving body."

That is QUITE DIFFERENT from your (2). And from experience with wave
phenomena it is quite natural. The real departure came from combining it
with (1), the Principle of Relativity -- nobody had succeeded in doing
that until Einstein showed us how. And it has remarkable consequences
(like time dilation, length contraction, and many more) that are now
commonplace observations at particle accelerators.

The invariance of the speed of light comes from a combination of both of
Einstein's postulates. It is not itself a postulate.

Tom Roberts tjroberts@lucent.com

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