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A relativistic physical theory implies a relational metaphysics, but not the other way round: even if space is composed of nothing but relations between observers and events, it would be conceptually possible for all observers to agree on their measurements, whereas relativity implies they will disagree.
Relative space is some movable dimension or measure of the absolute spaces; which our senses determine by its position to bodies: and which is vulgarly taken for immovable space ... Absolute motion is the translation of a body from one absolute place into another: and relative motion, the translation from one relative place into another ...
The laws of physics are the same for all observers in any inertial frame of reference relative to one another (principle of relativity). The speed of light in vacuum is the same for all observers, regardless of their relative motion or of the motion of the light source. The resultant theory copes with experiment better than classical mechanics.
Debates concerning the nature, essence and the mode of existence of space date back to antiquity; namely, to treatises like the Timaeus of Plato, or Socrates in his reflections on what the Greeks called khôra (i.e. "space"), or in the Physics of Aristotle (Book IV, Delta) in the definition of topos (i.e. place), or in the later "geometrical conception of place" as "space qua extension" in the ...
The Lorentz-transform calculation above uses a definition of extended-simultaneity (i.e. of when and where events occur at which you were not present) that might be referred to as the co-moving or "tangent free-float-frame" definition. This definition is naturally extrapolated to events in gravitationally-curved spacetimes, and to accelerated ...
Newton posited an absolute space considered well-approximated by a frame of reference stationary relative to the fixed stars. An inertial frame was then one in uniform translation relative to absolute space. However, some "relativists", [10] even at the time of Newton, felt that absolute space was a defect of the formulation, and should be ...
SR states that motion is relative and the laws of physics are the same for all experimenters irrespective of their inertial reference frames. In addition to modifying notions of space and time, SR forces one to reconsider the concepts of mass, momentum, and energy all of which are important constructs in Newtonian mechanics. SR shows that these ...
The interior of a line segment in an at least two-dimensional ambient space is empty, but its relative interior is the line segment without its endpoints. The interior of a disc in an at least three-dimensional ambient space is empty, but its relative interior is the same disc without its circular edge.