History 181B - Class 17

History 181B: Modern Physics

Class 17 (2/28/03)
Einstein and relativity (1)

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Outline

Enter Einstein

Brownian motion and kinetic theory
    The phenomenon
    Stat mech and thermo
    Why is this interesting? Macro and micro

Reconciling Newtonian mechanics and Maxwellian EM
    Reference frames: Definitions
    Applied to Newtonian mechanics
    Applied to Maxwellian EM

Einstein takes up the matter
    Logical structure
        Keeping an eye out for what needs closer attention
        An axiomatic presentation with two postulates
    Building up the paper: kinematics, electromagnetics

Names and terms

Primary	Secondary
Albert Einstein (1879-1955), NP 1921 "On the Motion of Small Particles Suspended in Liquids at Rest Required by the Molecular-Kinetic Theory of Heat" (1905) diffusion random walk Jean Perrin (1870-1942), NP 1926 "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" (1905) (reference) frame inertial (reference) frame uniform translational motion invariance principle of relativity	Robert Brown (1773-1858) Joseph Fourier (1768-1830) Avogadro's number N Galilean transformation

Assignment

Albert Einstein, "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" (1905) in Einstein's Miraculous Year: Five Papers That Changed the Face of Physics, ed. John Stachel (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998), 123-160.

    This is Einstein's relativity paper. Read what you can, minimally pp. 123-130. For the rest, if the equations don't mean much to you, read the parts where there aren't any.
    What is the point of Einstein's first two pages? That is, not just what is the familiar conclusion ("The introduction of a 'light ether' will prove to be superfluous"), but how did Einstein argue for it?
    Why did he then move to a discussion of clocks and measuring rods?
    How did he come back to electromagnetism?