Mainstream Problems

I would like to suggest that the approach to relativity is backward.

By this I mean that Einstein, and almost everyone since whether agreeing with Einstein or arguing against him, begin with the notion of the invariance of the speed of light and then create an argument about some kinematic situation. Only later did Einstein attempt to modify Newton's laws so that they would fit his discussion and the conclusions he reached during his kinematic thought experiments.

For reference, here is a version of his postulates.

1. First postulate  (invariance of c)

As measured in any inertial frame of reference, light is always propagated in empty space with a definite velocity c that is independent of the state of motion of the emitting body. OR: The speed of light in free space has the same value C in all inertial frames of reference.

2. Second postulate (principle of relativity)

The laws by which the states of physical systems undergo change are not affected, whether these changes of state be referred to the one or the other of two systems of coordinates in uniform translatory motion. OR: The laws of physics are the same in all inertial frames of reference.

If one basically revereses their approach to relativity then it would seem logical to select fundamental laws of physics and then require that all use these same laws. the initial problem is then "How does one select the fundamental laws?" This question was not addressed by Einstein, and to my knowledge, by no one since.

For reasons discussed elsewhere, I sought to begin with the 1st and 2nd laws of thermodynamics and this is a partial list of what I was able to show:

1. the 2nd law requires an integrating denominator for the path dependent 1st law,
2. the integrating denominator goes to zero at an absolute velocity,
3. if all observers, regardless of their velocity relative to the coordinate system in which the force is written (relativity principle), are to use the same laws they must all see the same absolute velocity,
4. since the laws describe dynamics one may only approach kinematics by setting the forces to zero within the laws, thereby requiring that any transformations between observers be done using the laws rather than a purely kinematic argument,
5. a transformation between observers moving with a variable relative velocity must be done so that both observers see the same absolute velocity
6. there are then three velocities involved in the transformation; the absolute velocity (c_a), the force driven velocity (v), and the variable relative velocity (W) and
7. the time and space transformations depend upon both the force driven and the relative velocity.

Based upon the above it would seem that starting to think about kinematic experiments before considering the laws of dynamicsis the wrong way to go. Yet if one starts with the thermodynamic laws one must conclude that light must travel at the absolute velocity and all must see the same absolute velocity, but by developing transformations based upon the kinematic argument as special relativity did, the transformations do not see the separation of the force driven velocity from the relative velocity within the transformations.

Recognizing that the relative velocity is different from the force driven velocity is important when attempting to understand phenomena involving relatively moving observers. 

See www.k1man.com/physics