Do you know that ...
- ... as early as in 1911, Einstein proposed a new method to synchronize spatially separated clocks without using any light signals?
See about Einstein's struggle with "conventionalists" (p. 243) and his brilliant proposal (p. 244) by means of which he tried to save relativity from misinterpretation.
- ... Einstein, having given up the idea of ether in 1905, changed his mind in 1921 and proposed to return to the Newtonian concept by restoring ether as a privileged system from which all non-gravitational accelerations should be counted?
See "What Einstein thought about the ether" (pp. 246-247).
- ... a few years before his death, Einstein called it "inconsistent" and exceptive that the properties of rods and clocks "emerge" from his postulates instead of being derived from the equations of mechanics and electricity. Einstein regarded such "inconsistence" as temporary "with the obligation, however, of eliminating it at a later stage of the theory."
See "Uniting the past and the future" (pp. 248-251).
- ... Einstein's second postulate, as formulated in his pioneering work of 1905, was very different from that in textbooks today?
See the original Einstein's formulation given in italics on page 241 and our comments.
- ... the Lorentz contraction of the field of a charge moving at a constant velocity can be explained without any mathematics and even without relativity?
See "Physical mechanisms of the Lorentz field contraction" and pp. 55-58 in the book.
- ... a solid rod, having been set in motion with a uniform velocity, contracts its length exactly gamma-times (gamma is the value predicted by special relativity) only when it is absolutely elastic? As for a real rod with inevitable dash of plasticity, it would contract to a lesser extent?
See "Elasticity from a relativistic standpoint" (pp. 182-184). Then see about reversibility of relativistic effects (p. 251), Janossy's dynamical description of relativistic effects (p. 255), and finally, "The limits of special relativity" (pp. 268-270).
- ... Einstein, when proposing his famous clock paradox, had good reason to use non-living objects (i.e. clocks) as the space-travelers, and not twin-brothers as was advertised later?
See the lower half of page 268 and further explanations on two subsequent pages.
- ... two stop-watches on a speeding platform will behave as if they were continuously synchronized with light signals, when separated and slowly brought to their different destination points on the platform?
See "Transportation of a clock along a speeding platform" (pp. 128-132).
- ... there is a corporeal device for visualizing the relativity of simultaneity as clearly as one can imagine the contraction of a moving rod's or the slowdown of a moving clock?
See "A device for envisioning the relativity of simultaneity" (pp. 139-149).
- ... a very long crocodile, having been set in motion with a uniform velocity, will have its tail younger (or older) than its head?
See "Crocodile scenario" (pp. 184-187).
- ... the electrification of a current, moving at a constant velocity can be explained using the law of electromagnetic induction?
This realization of the dream of Mr. E.G. Cullwick - the former President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, who did a lot to explain relativistic effects in terms of classical electrodynamics - is presented on pages 194-198.
- ... there are relativistic effects that take place at the speed of a moving car?
The entire Section 2.8 "Electrification of currents" (pp. 194-208) is devoted to such effects.
- ... a force and acceleration caused by that force can be pointed in different directions, in full accordance with Newton's second law?
See pages 108-110 for an explanation of this effect and pages 207-208 for an example of how it works.
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