The Einstein Theory of Relativity by Hendrik Antoon Lorentz

Author:Hendrik Antoon Lorentz [Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Non-Fiction, Science and Technics, Science
Publisher: Feedbooks
Published: 1920-04-04T04:00:00+00:00

New System or Co-Ordinates

What way Einstein had to follow is now apparent. He must—this hardly needs to be said—in calculating definite, particular cases make use of a chosen system of co-ordinates, but as he had no means of limiting his choice beforehand and in general, he had to reserve full liberty of action in this respect. Therefore he made it his aim so to arrange the theory that, no matter how the choice was made, the phenomena of gravitation, so far as its effects and its stimulation by the attracting bodies are concerned, may always be described in the same way—i.e., through comparisons of the same general form, as we again and again give certain values to the numbers that mark the sphere of gravitation. (For the sake of simplification I here disregard the fact that Einstein desires that also the way in which time is measured and represented by figures shall have no influence upon the central value of the comparisons.)

Whether this aim could be attained was a question of mathematical inquiry. It really was attained, remarkably enough, and, we may say, to the surprise of Einstein himself, although at the cost of considerable simplicity in the mathematical form; it appeared necessary for the fixation of the field of gravitation in one or the other point in space to introduce no fewer than ten quantities in the place of the one that occurred in the example mentioned above.

In this connection it is of importance to note that when we exclude certain possibilities that would give rise to still greater intricacy, the form of comparison used by Einstein to present the theory is the only possible one; the principle of the freedom of choice in co-ordinates was the only one by which he needed to allow himself to be guided. Although thus there was no special effort made to reach a connection with the theory of Newton, it was evident, fortunately, at the end of the experiment that the connection existed. If we avail ourselves of the simplifying circumstance that the velocities of the heavenly bodies are slight in comparison with that of light, then we can deduce the theory of Newton from the new theory, the “universal” relativity theory, as it is called by Einstein. Thus all the conclusions based upon the Newtonian theory hold good, as must naturally be required. But now we have got further along. The Newtonian theory can no longer be regarded as absolutely correct in all cases; there are slight deviations from it, which, although as a rule unnoticeable, once in a while fall within the range of observation.

Now, there was a difficulty in the movement of the planet Mercury which could not be solved. Even after all the disturbances caused by the attraction of other planets had been taken into account, there remained an inexplicable phenomenon—i.e., an extremely slow turning of the ellipsis described by Mercury on its own plane; Leverrier had found that it amounted to forty-three seconds a century. Einstein found that, according to his formulas, this movement must really amount to just that much.

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