Special Relativity Theory
According to SR, the vacuum speed of light is isotropically equal to a universal constant c in any coordinate systems. Inter alia, it leads to the fact that
- apart from Newtonian limit, velocities are not additive quantities, and
- the difference velocity between A and B is not equal to their relative velocity and particularly has a smaller absolute value. Whereas the maximum difference speed between two objects is 2c, the maximum absolute value of a relative velocity is equal to c.
To get from and in an arbitrary reference frame, it's necessary to Lorentz transformation the latter into the rest frame of A. If and are collinear, the formula
holds.
Read more about this topic: Relative Velocity
Famous quotes containing the words special, relativity and/or theory:
“Here in the U.S., culture is not that delicious panacea which we Europeans consume in a sacramental mental space and which has its own special columns in the newspapers—and in people’s minds. Culture is space, speed, cinema, technology. This culture is authentic, if anything can be said to be authentic.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)
“By an application of the theory of relativity to the taste of readers, to-day in Germany I am called a German man of science, and in England I am represented as a Swiss Jew. If I come to be regarded as a bête noire the descriptions will be reversed, and I shall become a Swiss Jew for the Germans and a German man of science for the English!”
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955)
“It is not enough for theory to describe and analyse, it must itself be an event in the universe it describes. In order to do this theory must partake of and become the acceleration of this logic. It must tear itself from all referents and take pride only in the future. Theory must operate on time at the cost of a deliberate distortion of present reality.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)