Comment on 'Reinterpretation of the Fitzgerald-Lorentz contraction' by M. Harada and M. Sachs

摘要

In their recent article [Phys. Essays 11,521 (1998)], M. Harada and M. Sachs indicated that "the Lorentz transformations induce only the scale change of spatial or temporal measure and have nothing to do with physical changes." The present article points out, first, that their indication is not original, but lies at the heart of the point made by A. Einstein in 1905; second, that the procedure of concrete application of this indication adopted by them is quite different from that adopted by Einstein, and seems to be erroneous. The origin of their error lies in their wrong use of the unit of length, and in the extra introduction of the contraction factor other than the scale change, contrary to their own indication. [References: 2]