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Why Einstein Did Not Abandon the Constancy of the Speed of Light



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 24th 17, 09:00 PM posted to sci.astro
Pentcho Valev
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Default Why Einstein Did Not Abandon the Constancy of the Speed of Light

Albert Einstein: "...I introduced the principle of the constancy of the velocity of light, which I borrowed from H. A. Lorentz's theory of the stationary luminiferous ether..."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorentz_ether_theory

Albert Einstein: "In view of this dilemma there appears to be nothing else for it than to abandon either the principle of relativity or the simple law of the propagation of light in vacuo. Those of you who have carefully followed the preceding discussion are almost sure to expect that we should retain the principle of relativity, which appeals so convincingly to the intellect because it is so natural and simple. The law of the propagation of light in vacuo would then have to be replaced by a more complicated law conformable to the principle of relativity. The development of theoretical physics shows, however, that we cannot pursue this course. The epoch-making theoretical investigations of H. A. Lorentz on the electrodynamical and optical phenomena connected with moving bodies show that experience in this domain leads conclusively to a theory of electromagnetic phenomena, of which the law of the constancy of the velocity of light in vacuo is a necessary consequence."
http://www.bartleby.com/173/7.html

So Einstein did not abandon the constancy of the speed of light because ... Lorentz's ether theory had shown that the constancy is correct! The fundamentals of Einstein's relativity are extremely solid, aren't they, Einsteinians?

Pentcho Valev
  #2  
Old September 25th 17, 08:46 AM posted to sci.astro
Pentcho Valev
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Default Why Einstein Did Not Abandon the Constancy of the Speed of Light

James H. Smith, Introduction to Special Relativity, p. 42: "We must emphasize that at the time Einstein proposed it [his second postulate], there was no direct experimental evidence whatever for the speed of light being independent of the speed of its source. He postulated it out of logical necessity."
http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-S.../dp/048668895X

"Out of logical necessity" in this case means that Einstein, as he himself admits and his collaborator Banesh Hoffmann confirms, just took the constancy of the speed of light from the ether theory (that is, all the justification behind Einstein's 1905 second postulate was provided by the ether theory):

Albert Einstein: "...it is impossible to base a theory of the transformation laws of space and time on the principle of relativity alone. As we know, this is connected with the relativity of the concepts of "simultaneity" and "shape of moving bodies." To fill this gap, I introduced the principle of the constancy of the velocity of light, which I borrowed from H. A. Lorentz's theory of the stationary luminiferous ether..." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorentz_ether_theory

Banesh Hoffmann, Relativity and Its Roots, p.92: "There are various remarks to be made about this second principle. For instance, if it is so obvious, how could it turn out to be part of a revolution - especially when the first principle is also a natural one? Moreover, if light consists of particles, as Einstein had suggested in his paper submitted just thirteen weeks before this one, the second principle seems absurd: A stone thrown from a speeding train can do far more damage than one thrown from a train at rest; the speed of the particle is not independent of the motion of the object emitting it. And if we take light to consist of particles and assume that these particles obey Newton's laws, they will conform to Newtonian relativity and thus automatically account for the null result of the Michelson-Morley experiment without recourse to contracting lengths, local time, or Lorentz transformations. Yet, as we have seen, Einstein resisted the temptation to account for the null result in terms of particles of light and simple, familiar Newtonian ideas, and introduced as his second postulate something that was more or less obvious when thought of in terms of waves in an ether. If it was so obvious, though, why did he need to state it as a principle? Because, having taken from the idea of light waves in the ether the one aspect that he needed, he declared early in his paper, to quote his own words, that "the introduction of a 'luminiferous ether' will prove to be superfluous." https://www.amazon.com/Relativity-It.../dp/0486406768

Pentcho Valev
  #3  
Old September 25th 17, 06:43 PM posted to sci.astro
Pentcho Valev
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Posts: 8,078
Default Why Einstein Did Not Abandon the Constancy of the Speed of Light

Albert Einstein: "To fill this gap, I introduced the principle of the constancy of the velocity of light, which I borrowed from H. A. Lorentz's theory of the stationary luminiferous ether..."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorentz_ether_theory

Einstein "borrowed" the constancy of the speed of light from Lorentz ether theory but discovered that the constancy was nonsense:

John Stachel: "But this seems to be nonsense. How can it happen that the speed of light relative to an observer cannot be increased or decreased if that observer moves towards or away from a light beam? Einstein states that he wrestled with this problem over a lengthy period of time, to the point of despair." http://www.aip.org/history/exhibits/...relativity.htm

Einstein "wrestled with this problem over a lengthy period of time, to the point of despair", but in the end found it suitable to introduce the nonsense. However the nonsense naturally proved inconsistent with reality, and Einstein restored consistency by converting space and time, too, into nonsense:

Peter Galison: "Only by criticizing the foundational notions of time and space could one bring the pieces of the theory - that the laws of physics were the same in all constantly moving frames; that light traveled at the same speed regardless of its source - into harmony."
https://www.aip.org/history/exhibits...teins-time.htm

"Special relativity is based on the observation that the speed of light is always the same, independently of who measures it, or how fast the source of the light is moving with respect to the observer. Einstein demonstrated that as an immediate consequence, space and time can no longer be independent, but should rather be considered a new joint entity called "spacetime."
http://community.bowdoin.edu/news/20...rs-of-gravity/

Pentcho Valev
 




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