Re: Conversation with Edwin Taylor (Spacetime Physics)

From: Cozmo Man (cozmologist_at_scientist.com)
Date: 06/29/04 

Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2004 19:13:01 -0700

Tom Roberts wrote:
> Cozmo Man wrote:
>> Pete said "the principle of relativity and (2) the invariance of
>> the speed of light" and Einstein said "the principle of relativity
>> and the principle of the constancy of the velocity of light." What
>> are you arguing about?
>
> Constancy of the speed of light IN THE 'STATIONARY' FRAME, as
> Einstein's postulate 2 states, is not at all the same as
> "invariance of the speed of light".
>

That is true but where in the quote I gave is "THE 'STATIONARY' FRAME"
specified? Answer: It is not specified because this was before
Einstein put both postulates together to formulate his
electrodynamics. At the beginning, in the second paragraph of the
paper, Einstein writes "the postulate, only seemingly incompatible
with the former one, that in empty space light is always propagated
with a definite velocity V which is independent of the state of motion
of the emitting body." This is a general, not a restricted statement.

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