|
![](/i/fill.gif) |
On 24-8-2009 20:21, Darren New wrote:
> Magnetism and electrostatics explained in terms of relativity, rather
> than vice versa. And even I followed it when I skipped the actual math. :-)
>
> http://physics.weber.edu/schroeder/mrr/MRRtalk.html
>
It is 20 years ago but this is what I remember from one of the great
teachers of theoretical physics in Amsterdam that I had the pleasure of
attending the lectures of (Gerard Bauerle).
- let's assume we have a universe with 3 space-like coordinates and one
time coordinate
- what happens of we have a vector in this space that has to be
invariant to rotations?
- Surprise: what we have now on the blackboard are Maxwell's equations.
Ok, it took a number of hours to introduce the mathematics, but then we
had in 10 minutes shown that in such a universe fields move at a fixed
speed, aka lightspeed. General relativity was another 5 minutes work.
I'll read this page later. I have to do other things now :( but he
starts with relativity assumed and works from there. Gerard started with
a clean board.
Take home message for me (although I might not do his derivation
justice): light is simply a property of space, not something that is
added later.
Post a reply to this message
|
![](/i/fill.gif) |