CS115 Lecture 13: specrel.pdf

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: Computer Science
• Course: CS115
• Professor: Richard Ennis

Document Summary

It is known that maxwell"s electrodynamics as usually understood at the present time when applied to moving bodies, leads to asymmetries which do not appear to be inherent in the phenomena. Take, for example, the recipro- cal electrodynamic action of a magnet and a conductor. But if the magnet is stationary and the conductor in motion, no electric eld arises in the neighbourhood of the magnet. These two postulates su ce for the attainment of a simple and consistent theory of the electrodynamics of moving bodies based on maxwell"s theory for stationary bodies. The introduction of a luminiferous ether will prove to be super uous inasmuch as the view here to be developed will not require an absolutely stationary space provided with special properties, nor. 1the preceding memoir by lorentz was not at this time known to the author. 1 assign a velocity-vector to a point of the empty space in which electromagnetic processes take place.