Special Theory of Relativity - Lecture-7

pecial Theory of Relativity - Lecture-2

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7.Relativistic momentum : According to the first postulates of Einstein special theory of relativity, laws of physics are invariant in all inertial frames. We know that conservation of linear momentum in the absence of external force is the most fundamental and powerful law of physics. As per classical physics, the linear momentum of particle of mass ‘' moving with velocity is defined as . We will see that this form of definition of momentum fails to obey the principle of conservation under relativistic dynamics. Let us consider two spherical clays A & B of equal masses ‘ ' move with velocities and undergo inelastic collision with final velocities  measured from the rest frame as shown in Fig. 1.                                                Fig 1: Inelastic collisions between two spherical clays A and B according to rest frame .