What are the implications of special relativity?
In 1905, Albert Einstein publish a paper titled ‘Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Köper’ (on the Electrodynamics of moving bodies) now referred to as the Special Theory of Relativity. In this theory, Einstein stated that nothing could travel faster than the speed of light and all observers, whatever their constant motion (velocity), must agree on the same value for the speed of light. Furthermore, Einstein stated that there is no preferred frame of reference and, thus, however an observer is moving he or she must find the laws of physics to be the same as those laws ‘measured’ by other observers in different moving frames of reference. So that all observers, moving with a constant velocity, could agree upon their measured values for physical quantities, such as time, length, mass, and kinetic energy – Einstein provided an inter-reference frame transformation. This transform is known as the gamma or Lorentz factor and is dependent upon the velocity of the observer ‘v’ and the speed of light
