If we assume an aether pervading space, and assume that this æther possesses no mass except when it moves with the velocity of light, it is obvious that an æther drift could in no way affect a beam of radiation nor could it be detected by any mechanical means. If we are to assume such an æther we may as well assume it to be at rest.
The question whether a method is conceivable by which absolute motion in space may be distinguished from relative motion must be answered definitely in the affirmative by one who accepts the above equations of non-Newtonian mechanics. A body is absolutely at rest when any motion imparted to it increases its mass, or when a certain force will give it the same acceleration in any direction. It is true that metaphysicians hold that in the strictest sense absolute motion is not only unknowable but unthinkable, but we may say at least that the above method permits theoretically the detection of absolute translational motion in the same sense that a study of centrifugal forces enables us to detect absolute rotational motion.
Summary.
It is postulated that the energy and momentum of a beam of radiation are due to a mass moving with the velocity of light.
From this postulate alone it is shown that the mass of a body depends upon its energy content. It is therefore necessary to replace that axiom of Newtonian mechanics according to which the mass of a body is independent of its velocity, by one which makes the mass increase with the kinetic energy.
Retaining all the other axioms of Newtonian mechanics and assuming the conservation laws of mass, energy, and momentum, a new system of mechanics is constructed.
In this system momentum is mv, kinetic energy varies between 1/2 mv² at low velocity and mv² at the velocity of light, while the mass of a body is a function of the velocity and becomes infinite at the velocity of light. The equation obtained agrees with the experiments of Kaufmann on the relation between the mass of an electron and its velocity. It is, moreover, strikingly similar to the equations that have been obtained for electromagnetic mass.
The new view leads to an unusual conception of the nature of light. It offers theoretically a method of distinguishing between absolute and relative motion.
- Research Laboratory of Physical Chemistry,
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
- May 14, 1908.
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
