Question:
I understand that a lLorenz Transformation solves the enigma presented to scientists after the Michelsonn-Morelrley Experiment; however, why must this be the solution? Why at the foundation of knowledge was Einstein prompted to use these transformers with the assurance of correctness?
Replies:
Physicists like to write the laws of physics in a way that
does not change if you go from one reference frame to another,
moving uniformly with respect to the first one. It turns out
that the laws governing electricity and magnetism are invariant
under Lorentz transformations. These laws has been verified
in the last century. This is what prompted Einstein to use
Lorentz transformation.
If you are wondering why nobody else thought of it, then the reason
is that these transformations do not leave Newton's laws
invariant. People had more faith in Newton's laws than in
Electricity and Magnetism.
jasjeet s bagla
Of course, Lorentz transformations were invented by Lorentz, not by
Einstein. And Einstein apparently did not know about the M-M experiment
when he proposed his theory of special relativity in 1905.
The problem that he faced was that the laws of electricity and
magnetism do not seem to behave in the same ways as Newton's laws of
mechanics.
I do not know if you know what the words "invariant" and "transformation"
mean, but further discussion would require you to understand the concepts
that are related to these words.
NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.
