The Theory of the Relativity of Motion

Contents: 1. Historical development of ideas as to the nature of space and time. 2. The two postulates of the Einstein theory of relativity. 3. Some elementary deductions. 4. The Einstein transformation equations for space and time. 5. Kinematical applications. 6. The dynamics of a particle. 7. The dynamics of a system of particles. 8. The chaotic motion of a system of particles. 9. The principle of relativity and the principle of least action. 10. The dynamics of elastic bodies. 11. The dynamics of a thermodynamic system. 12. Electromagnetic theory. 13. Four-dimensional analysis.

This book presents an introduction to Einstein's Theory of Relativity, which has become a necessary part of the theoretical equipment of every physicist. Even if we regard the Einstein theory of relativity merely as a convenient tool for the prediction of electromagnetic and optical phenomena, its importance to the physicist is very great, not only because its introduction greatly simplifies the deduction of many theorems which were already familiar in the older theories based on a stationary either, but also because it leads simply and directly to correct conclusions in the case of such experiments as those of Michelson and Morley, Trouton and Noble and Kaufman and Bucherer, which can be made to agree with the idea of a stationary either only by the introduction of complicated and ad hoc assumptions.