Rigid Body Motion in Special Relativity
Abstract
We study the acceleration and collisions of rigid bodies in special relativity. After a brief historical review, we give a physical definition of the term `rigid body' in relativistic straight line motion. We show that the definition of `rigid body' in relativity differs from the usual classical definition, so there is no difficulty in dealing with rigid bodies in relativistic motion. We then describe 1. The motion of a rigid body undergoing constant acceleration to a given velocity.
- Publication:
-
Foundations of Physics
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- DOI:
- 10.1007/s10701-013-9757-x
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1105.3899
- Bibcode:
- 2013FoPh...43.1489F
- Keywords:
-
- Special relativity;
- Rigid body motion;
- Physics - General Physics
- E-Print:
- Extended the discussion,and added references