Relating Maxwells Equations and the Special Theory of Relativity: Is the Energy Content of an

Object Dependent Upon its Mass?

When Maxwells electrodynamics is applied to moving objects, inconsistencies to the rules of

Newtonian physics occur. Einsteins paper On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies explains
that there are two aspects to mathematically establishing and explaining these inconsistencies
in terms of Newtonian, non-relativistic physics: the kinematical part and the electrodynamics
part. The relationship between kinematics and electrodynamics and the special theory of
relativity established in this paper is then applied in answering the question entitled in Einsteins
paper Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon its Energy Content?.

Simultaneity is defined mathematically in terms of times in the immediate vicinity of their

respective separate places, so as to enable mathematical analysis of systems in the stationary and
moving frames and their containing objects. To apply special relativity to kinematics, the
principle of relativity, that different systems of coordinates are created in which Newtonian
physics still hold, and the constancy of the velocity of light, using the definition of time in terms
of simultaneity and synchronization, are briefly established. These two principles, supplemented
by the definition of time in terms of the definition of simultaneity, are then applied to
established systems of moving and stationary frames, given objects in moving and stationary
frames relative to their systems, to mathematically derive the concepts of time dilation and
length contraction. The kinematics part then has established that the kinematics of time and
length, when subject to moving frames, agree with the theory of special relativity.

The ultimate equations describing time dilation and length contraction, incorporating
complementary variables involving objects in similar state relative to their systems in different
states, or vice versa, are integrated into the Maxwell-Hertz equations. Transforming the resulting
equations into equations appropriate to coordinates of systems established in the kinematical part
and implementing mathematical definitions of electrodynamics terminology define the Doppler
principle for light. This mathematical definition of light in a moving state is then used to
investigate the optics of a sphere in several states relative to several systems, establishing that the
electrodynamics of moving bodies can be transformed into systems of coordinates appropriate to
the same bodies in stationary states. Through further calculations of the modified MaxwellHertz equations, incorporated into the relativistic changes in the charge of an object and
calculating appropriate equations in terms of the electrodynamic components of the charge, using
the kinematics concepts mathematically developed in the kinematics part, the electrodynamics
described through the Maxwell equations are found to agree with the theory of special relativity.

Using the modified equations in tandem with the theory of special relativity, and incorporating
them in the relativistic electrodynamic behavior of an electron (defined broadly as an
electrically charged particle) it is then mathematically established that there is no velocity greater
than that of light. The aggregation of the kinematical and electrodynamical relationship with the
systems of moving and stationary objects and their respective coordinates make up the theory of
relativity, which is then incorporated into Maxwells electrodynamics and equations, to explain
the inconsistencies of moving objects in Newtonian systems. This finding is then used to
relate energy and mass of an object, thus the famous equation, E mc 2 , where E is the energy
content of an object,

m is the mass of the object, and c is the constant of the velocity of light.