1

Relativity - The Special and General Theory 2

Relativity - The Special and General Theory

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Relativity: The Special and General Theory by Albert Einstein (#1 in our series by Albert Einstein) Note: 58 image files are part of this eBook. They include tables, equations

Relativity - The Special and General Theory 3

and figures that could not be represented well as plain text. Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the header without written permission.

Relativity - The Special and General Theory 4

Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. **Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**

Relativity - The Special and General Theory 5

**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** *****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** Title: Relativity: The Special and General Theory Author: Albert Einstein Release Date: February, 2004 [EBook #5001] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on April 1, 2002]

Relativity - The Special and General Theory 6

Edition: 10 Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, RELATIVITY *** ALBERT EINSTEIN REFERENCE ARCHIVE RELATIVITY: THE SPECIAL AND GENERAL THEORY

Relativity - The Special and General Theory 7

BY ALBERT EINSTEIN Written: 1916 (this revised edition: 1924) Source: Relativity: The Special and General Theory (1920) Publisher: Methuen & Co Ltd First Published: December, 1916 Translated: Robert W. Lawson (Authorised translation) Transcription/Markup: Brian Basgen <brian@marxists.org> Transcription to text: Gregory B. Newby <gbnewby@petascale.org> Copyleft: Einstein Reference Archive (marxists.org) 1999, 2002. Permission is granted to copy and/or distribute

Relativity - The Special and General Theory 8

this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (end of this file) The Einstein Reference Archive is online at: http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/einstein/ind Transcriber note: This file is a plain text rendition of HTML. Because many equations cannot be presented effectively in plain text, images are supplied for many equations and for all figures and tables. CONTENTS

Relativity - The Special and General Theory 9

Preface

Part I: The Special Theory of Relativity 10

Part I: The Special Theory of Relativity

01. Physical Meaning of Geometrical Propositions 02. The System of Co-ordinates 03. Space and Time in Classical Mechanics 04. The Galileian System of Coordinates 05. The Principle of Relativity (in the Restricted Sense) 06. The Theorem of the Addition of Velocities employed in Classical Mechanics 07. The Apparent Incompatability of the Law of Propagation of Light with the