How Einstein’s Dreams About Light Led Him to Relativity

One of the most iconic concepts in physics is special theory of relativity It was founded on two assumptions: the principle of special relativity and the principle of constancy of the speed of light. This theory, described as “Einstein’s theory” in schools, is actually the joint work of many researchers who laid the groundwork for the insights of other theorists.

Therefore, it is possible to argue that Einstein’s revolutionary discovery in 1905 began at least half a century ago with the work of physicist James Clerk Maxwell. Dissatisfied with the fact that Newton’s laws could not explain the motion of bodies at very high speeds, this Scotsman wanted to combine the sciences of electricity and magnetism into a theory that unified nature.

To do this, Maxwell delved into a knot of seemingly disparate equations and managed to establish a second great force of nature after gravity: electromagnetism. And all this in four basic equations that predict, among other details The existence of electromagnetic waves traveling at the speed of light was fixed by him as 3×10⁸ meters per second.

Einstein was fascinated by the light of electromagnetism

Young Albert wasn’t even an engineer, but he had a thought experiment in his mind that became his favorite dream: What if we could ride a bike fast enough to catch a beam of light? What tormented the University of Zurich student’s mind was knowing what the light would look like to the dizzying cyclist.

Since Maxwell described light as a rhythmic and continuous pattern of undulating waves, you can mentally imagine where Einstein’s bicycle “journey” would lead.

If you could pedal as fast as a modern pedal Flash and look the other way, he would see only waves frozen in the air with peaks of electricity and troughs of magnetismjust like any time series chart.

Bicycle paradox and relativity theory

However, although Einstein was still very young, he already realized that his dream was a paradox. After all, Maxwell’s equations required light to be in constant motion; Frozen light cannot exist in the universe.

Years passed, and soon Einstein managed to solve the bicycle “journey” paradox. Until one day he found the solution that was both reassuring and terrifying: The best way to avoid a paradox is to simply ignore it.

This means that solving Einstein’s dream of cycling is the same as trying to answer which research station is located 100 meters south of the South Pole. There is no such answer because the universe does not allow it. With the liberating disappointment of knowing that nothing could travel faster than light, Einstein began to formulate his special theory of relativity.

Did you like the content? So, stay up to date with more curiosities about the world of physics at TecMundo and take the opportunity to discover the meaning of Albert Einstein’s most famous equation.