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Rigid Body Motion in Special Relativity

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Abstract

We study the acceleration and collisions of rigid bodies in special relativity. After a brief historical review, we give a physical definition of the term ‘rigid body’ in relativistic straight line motion. We show that the definition of ‘rigid body’ in relativity differs from the usual classical definition, so there is no difficulty in dealing with rigid bodies in relativistic motion. We then describe

  1. 1.

    The motion of a rigid body undergoing constant acceleration to a given velocity.

  2. 2.

    The acceleration of a rigid body due to an applied impulse.

  3. 3.

    Collisions between rigid bodies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, 19122-6082, USA

    Jerrold Franklin

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  1. Jerrold Franklin
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Correspondence to Jerrold Franklin.

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Franklin, J. Rigid Body Motion in Special Relativity. Found Phys 43, 1489–1501 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-013-9757-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-013-9757-x

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