The Theory of Special Relativity

Essay from the year 2012 in the subject Physics - Theoretical Physics, grade: 1.0, , language: English, abstract: The essay presents an intuitive approach to the basics of special relativity, leading to a mathematical understanding of Lorentz transformations, relativistic dynamics and mass-energy equivalence.

Until the end of the nineteenth century, the simple Galilean principle of relativity was used to relate physical observations in one frame of reference to another moving relative to it. When the phenomena of electromagnetism and light where unified in Maxwell¿s equations, this principle was first called into question as it stood in conflict with the idea of absolute time and motion. The most famous experiment that attempted to determine the absolute motion of the earth, the Michelson-Morley experiment, will be discussed here. Subsequently, the ideas and postulates contained in Einstein¿s first paper on relativity will be introduced and hence the kinematic transformations based on the principles will be derived and their implications on the relativity of space and time as well as on Newtonian mechanics will be stated.