sci.physics.electromag

On Mar 16, 6:37 pm, nade wrote:
> http://redshift.vif.com/BookBlurbs/OldPhysics.htm
>
> What do you make of it? Author has doctorate in nuclear physics
> and has over 40 publications in physics journals.
>
> http://redshift.vif.com/BookBlurbs/OldPhysics.htm
>
> from the web site:

> Following this logic, if we allow the detector to have free
> motion, then the formalism of electrodynamics which follows
> must somehow allow for the parameterization of the detector's
> motion.
The electrodynamics that I learn do allow it through chain
derivatives. Maxwell's equations are defined for detectors that are
travelling at a constant velocity in an inertial frame. If one wants
the equivalent equations for a detector in an accelerated frame, one
uses the chain rule to figure out what the derivatives mean in the
accelerated frame.
Actually, the problem you refer to proceeded electromagnetism.
The same type of problem exists in classical fluid dynamics. One uses
the chain rule of derivation. In fact, there is an operator in fluid
dynamics called the material derivative. The material derivative is
what happens to a spatial derivative in the accelerated frame of the
streamline.
I think the formalism of thermodynamics and fluid mechanics
would be very useful in electromagnetic theory classrooms. In these
subjects, the derivatives are written in such a way that there is
never any doubt which quantities are in an inertial frame. In the
electromagnetic theory classes, the meaning of the derivatives are
conveyed entirely by words instead of being part of the equation.

Just pay close attention to the chain rule of differentiation,
and to partial derivatives. Application of SR to accelerating frames
is actually rather easy once you understand the chain rule of
differentiating.