A simple derivation of the Lorentz transformation and of the related velocity and acceleration formulae

Abstract

The Lorentz transformation is entirely derived from length contraction, itself established through the known light-clock thought experiment . This makes the derivation accessible to beginning students once Eintein's two postulates have been admitted. The formula derived for the space part of the general rotation-free Lorentz transformation is very compact and allows for an easy derivation of the velocity and acceleration transformations. A possibly new and very simple relation is found between proper acceleration and acceleration in an inertial frame.

arXiv commentUpdate of physics/0606103 4 pages, 1 figure, a slightly modified version is to appear in the American Journal of Physics

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Rotation of polarization by a moving gravitational lens
• On the linear transformation between inertial frames
• The wave equation in the birth of spacetime symmetries
• Intrinsic Lorentz violation in Doppler effect from a moving point light source
• Lorentz transformation, time dilation, length contraction and Doppler Effect - all at once
• Lorentz transformation directly from the invariance of the speed of light via the addition law of parallel speeds
• Lorentz transformation by mimicking the Lorentz transformation