The Paradigm of Projectile Motion and its Consequences for Special Relativity. Making Sense of Physics

摘要

The classical (Newtonian) concept of projectile motion underwent a series of seemingly minor changes and adjustments between Planck’s quantum discovery (1900) and Dirac’s early codification of quantum theory (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.