distortion of the body in consequence of a real motion through a stationary ether, and his theory has aroused considerable discussion as to the nature of the forces which would be necessary to produce such a deformation. The point of view first advanced by Einstein, which we have here adopted, is radically different. Absolute motion has no significance. Imagine an electron and a number of observers moving in different directions with respect to it. To each observer, naïvely considering himself to be at rest, the electron will appear shortened in a different direction and by a different amount; but the physical condition of the electron obviously does not depend upon the state of mind of the observers.
Although these changes in the units of space and time appear in a certain sense psychological, we adopt them rather than abandon completely the fundamental conceptions of space, time, and velocity, upon which the science of physics now rests. At present there appears no other alternative.
Non-Newtonian Mechanics.
Having obtained these relations for the units of space and time, we may turn to some of the other important quantities used in mechanics.
Let us again consider two systems, a and b, in relative motion with the velocity v. An experimenter A on the first system constructs a ball of some rigid elastic material, with a volume of one cubic centimeter, and sets it in motion, with a velocity of one centimeter per second, towards the system b (in a direction perpendicular to the line of relative motion of the two systems). On the other system, an experimenter B constructs of the same material a similar ball with a volume of one cubic centimeter in his units, and imparts to it, also in his units, a velocity of one centimeter per second towards a. The experiment is so planned that the balls will collide and rebound over their original paths. Since the two systems are entirely symmetrical, it is evident by the principle of relativity, that the (algebraic) change in velocity of the first ball, as measured by A, is the same as the change in velocity of the other ball, as measured by B. This being the case, the observer A, considering himself at rest, concludes that the real change in velocity of the ball b is different from that of his own, for he remembers that while the unit of length is the same in this transverse direction in both systems, the unit of time is longer in the moving system.
Velocity is measured in centimeters per second, and since the second is longer in the moving system, while the centimeter in the direction
