19 Facts About Special relativity

1.

In physics, the special theory of relativity, or special relativity for short, is a scientific theory regarding the relationship between space and time.

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2.

Special relativity was originally proposed by Albert Einstein in a paper published on 26 September 1905 titled "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies".

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3.

Today, special relativity is proven to be the most accurate model of motion at any speed when gravitational and quantum effects are negligible.

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4.

Special relativity has a wide range of consequences that have been experimentally verified.

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5.

Some work of Albert Einstein in special relativity is built on the earlier work by Hendrik Lorentz and Henri Poincare.

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6.

Special relativity is restricted to the flat spacetime known as Minkowski space.

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7.

Special relativity postulated that it holds for all the laws of physics, including both the laws of mechanics and of electrodynamics.

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8.

Derivation of special relativity depends not only on these two explicit postulates, but on several tacit assumptions, including the isotropy and homogeneity of space and the independence of measuring rods and clocks from their past history.

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9.

The universal principle of the special theory of relativity is contained in the postulate: The laws of physics are invariant with respect to Lorentz transformations .

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10.

The traditional two-postulate approach to special relativity is presented in innumerable college textbooks and popular presentations.

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11.

Consequences of special relativity can be derived from the Lorentz transformation equations.

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12.

Since Special relativity of simultaneity is a first order effect in, instruments based on the Sagnac effect for their operation, such as ring laser gyroscopes and fiber optic gyroscopes, are capable of extreme levels of sensitivity.

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13.

Therefore, if causality is to be preserved, one of the consequences of special relativity is that no information signal or material object can travel faster than light in vacuum.

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14.

Special relativity provides the transformation rules for how an electromagnetic field in one inertial frame appears in another inertial frame.

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15.

Special relativity can be combined with quantum mechanics to form relativistic quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics.

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16.

However, at macroscopic scales and in the absence of strong gravitational fields, special relativity is experimentally tested to extremely high degree of accuracy and thus accepted by the physics community.

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17.

Special relativity is mathematically self-consistent, and it is an organic part of all modern physical theories, most notably quantum field theory, string theory, and general relativity .

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18.

Basically, special relativity can be stated as the invariance of any spacetime interval when viewed from any inertial reference frame.

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19.

All equations and effects of special relativity can be derived from this rotational symmetry of Minkowski spacetime.

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