Related papers: The "Relativistic" Mug
A modern elementary introduction to special relativity for advanced school children or first-year university students, in Russian. I try to demonstrate that relativity does not contradict common sense; on the contrary, it follows from…
At first sight, arguments for and against the notion of relativistic mass look like a notorious intra-Lilliputian quarrel between Big-Endians (those who broke their eggs at the larger end) and Little-Endians. However, upon closer inspection…
In relativistic mechanics the energy-momentum of a free point mass moving without acceleration forms a four-vector. Einstein's celebrated energy-mass relation E=mc^2 is commonly derived from that fact. By contrast, in Newtonian mechanics…
Einstein's most famous equation -- $E=mc^2$ -- generated a short-circuit between the concepts of mass and energy, which also affects other concepts like matter, radiation, and vacuum. Physics currently has a mixture of classical,…
The renaissance of General Relativity witnessed considerable progress regarding both understanding and justifying Einstein's equations. Both general relativists and historians of the subject tend to share a view, General Relativity…
The increase in mass of our observed expansive and isotropic relativistic Universe in the present relativistic cosmology is explained by the extensive assumption of the matter objects emerging on the horizon (of the most remote visibility).…
This paper presents some ideas which might assist teachers incorporating special relativity into an introductory physics curriculum. One can define the proper-time/velocity pair, as well as the coordinate-time/velocity pair, of a traveler…
This paper aims to provide physics teachers with tools to help deepen the understanding of the laws of electromagnetism. The fundamental contributions of our proposal are: a) to use quotes from mythical characters in the history of science…
The interpretations of solutions of Einstein field's equations led to the prediction and the observation of physical phenomena which confirm the important role of general relativity, as well as other relativistic theories in physics. In…
A critical analysis of the relativistic formulation of matter reveals some surprising inconsistencies and paradoxes. Corrections are discovered which lead to the long-sought-after equality of the gravitational and inertial masses, which are…
Einstein's 1905 derivation of E = mc^2 has been criticized for being circular. Although such criticisms have been challenged it is certainly true that the reasoning in Einstein's original derivation is not at all obvious. Einstein's…
An interpretation of the inertial mass increase due to an object's velocity which is derived from the theory of special relativity is discussed. A Lorentz transformation of the reference time causes the inertial mass increase. It is assumed…
Although Einstein's name is closely linked with the celebrated relation E = mc2 between mass and energy, a critical examination of the more than half dozen "proofs" of this relation that Einstein produced over a span of forty years reveals…
This paper is a short commentary on the 2005 paper in Nature by S. Rainville et al., which claimed to be ``the most precise direct test of the famous equation", E = mc^2. This communication is directed only to the readers who are familiar…
In 1905, Einstein discovered the famous equation: E=mc^2, which means that the rest mass of a particle is some kind of energy. This energy is generally referred to as "rest energy", since the particle is believed to be at rest. This paper…
This Resource Letter provides some guidance on issues that arise in teaching general relativity at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Particular emphasis is placed on strategies for presenting the mathematical material needed for…
The teaching of special relativity still follows Einstein's original two-postulate approach and thus recreates the relativistic revolution in the minds of students again and again, with all its attendant shocking and mysterious aspects. As…
This document gathers the notes of a 30-hour review course on gravitation, which I delivered in January 2018 and January 2019 at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences of Cameroon (AIMS-Cameroon). Its main goal is to propose a big…
The concept of mass is central to any theory of gravity. Nevertheless, defining mass in general relativity is a difficult task, and even when it can be accomplished, we still need to investigate whether the typical properties of mass in…
The concept of velocity dependent mass, relativistic mass, is examined and is found to be inconsistent with the geometrical formulation of special relativity. This is not a novel result; however, many continue to use this concept and some…