International Journal of Physics and Astronomy

On Special Relativity: Incompatibility of the Light Speed Postulate with the Coordinate Transformation Symmetry Assumption
Radwan M. Kassir

Abstract
The speed of light postulate is closely examined from the perspective of two inertial reference frames?unprimed (‘stationary’) and primed (‘traveling’)?in relative motion, revealing that the speed of light postulate actually requires length contraction with respect to the unprimed reference frame, and length expansion with respect to the primed frame. It is shown that when symmetry is imposed on the inverse length transformation(i.e., to make it exhibit the same length contraction from the perspective of the primed frame), the common length contraction factor becomes nothing but the Lorentz contraction factor ϒ . However, this would necessarily result in ϒ=1, implying thatthe frames are being at rest with respect to each other, and thus refuting the special relativity predictions!When the coordinate’s transformation symmetry assumption is applied on the direct transformation resulting from the light speed postulate?which is shown incompatible with this assumption?, the Lorentz transformation and its inverse are erroneously obtained; it is shown to be restricted to certain coordinate relations, resulted in mathematical contradictions, and thus demonstrated to be unviable.

Full Text: PDF