2015/01/03 by Paul A. Klevgard, Klevgard, Paul A.
Medicine · Physics and Astronomy · #Biofield Effects and Biophysics #FOS: Physical sciences #History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph) #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Relativity and Gravitational Theory #physics.hist-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1501.00585
Deprecated: Duplicates ideas in new paper: "Minkowski and Special Relativity: Does His Spacetime Geometry Explain Space Contraction?" [arXiv:1602.02829]
openalex publication_date 2015/01/03 · arxiv created 2018/01/15 · arxiv updated 2018/01/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
A new explanation for space contraction and time dilation in special relativity is offered based on kinetic energy differences between observers rather than velocity differences. The classical (Newtonian) concept of projectile motion underwent a series of seemingly minor changes and adjustments between the discovery of the quantum (Planck, 1900) and the early codification of quantum theory (Dirac, 1928). The goal of physicists in this period was to keep change to a minimum and preserve as much as possible of the traditional projectile paradigm (TPP). These adjustments were successful in masking an all-out projectile paradigm crisis, but they have left us with a conceptual muddle. This has been especially deleterious for special relativity and our understanding of space contraction and time dilation. A reinterpretation of projectile motion focusing on kinetic energy permits a new understanding of relativistic space contraction and time dilation.