Reference: Disturbance Theory
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From Wikipedia,
“In physics, the Lorentz transformations are coordinate transformations between two coordinate frames that move at constant velocity relative to each other. The transformations are named after the Dutch physicist Hendrik Lorentz.
“Frames of reference can be divided into two groups: inertial (relative motion with constant velocity) and non-inertial (accelerating in curved paths, rotational motion with constant angular velocity, etc.). The term “Lorentz transformations” only refers to transformations between inertial frames, usually in the context of special relativity.”
“Historically, the transformations were the result of attempts by Lorentz and others to explain how the speed of light was observed to be independent of the reference frame.”
Thus, the earth provides one reference frame, and the Sun provides another. Since the earth is moving relative to the sun, one would expect the velocity of light to be slightly different in the two reference frames. However, this difference is practically undetectable from the experiments conducted so far. This resulted in the assumption that speed of light is independent of the reference frame.
Is the assumption that the speed of light is independent of the reference frame, correct?
This assumption will definitely be correct if the speed of light is infinite. But the measurements show that the speed of light is 3 x 108 meters /second. It takes sunlight an average of 8 minutes and 20 seconds to travel from the Sun to the Earth. Why is the speed of light finite?
From the essay, The Inertial Frame and Space,
“The truth seems to be that matter cannot move freely through space. Matter encounters resistance when pushed through space. This resistance is INERTIA.”
The speed of light is finite because its propagation through space is not without resistance. Light has a limiting speed because its acceleration is balanced by inertia.
The speed ‘c’ of light is the result of a balance of forces.
We know that the earth is always accelerating toward the sun; but it has hit a limiting speed because this acceleration is balanced by its inertia. This may be the case with the speed of all heavenly bodies.
A heavenly body has a limiting speed because its acceleration is balanced by its inertia.
It is the resistance between space and the moving object that limits the speed; therefore, we may use space as the common reference frame for both matter and energy. This is the SRF (space reference frame) mentioned in The Inertial Frame and Space.
In SRF, the naturally balanced speeds of objects and radiation shall depend on their inertia. Light has a very high speed because its inertia is very small. The speed of the earth is likely to be very small because its inertia is very large. The speed of the sun shall be smaller still because its inertia is much larger than that of the earth.
This means that the speed of light shall be different relative to the earth and the sun.
The speed of light ‘c’ remains a universal constant in SRF. But it is not a constant in the reference frames of material origin.
The assumption that the speed of light is independent of the reference frame (of material origin) is theoretically incorrect.
This brings into question the usefulness of Lorenz transformations that are based on this assumption. This also brings into question those aspects of the Theory of Relativity that utilize Lorentz transformations.
Lorentz transformations have only a limited application.
There cannot be matter traveling at speeds that are significant fractions of the speed of light. Only sub-atomic particles with very small inertia can have speeds anywhere near the speed of light. But in that range more useful than velocities are frequencies, where the ratio of wavelength to period is ‘c’.
In Cosmology, Lorentz transformations may provide good approximations only for relative speeds that are very small compared to the speed of light. That happens to be the case in explaining the aberration of light.
In my opinion, the Theory of Relativity only resolves those difficult problems in physics, where the speeds are relatively very small compared to the speed of light. For larger relative speeds in the material realm, the speed of light cannot be held as a constant.
Lorentz transformations may provide good approximations only for relative speeds that are very small compared to the speed of light.
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