Um Erro Com Um Seculo

TL;DR

This paper discusses the misconception of 'rigid bodies' in relativity, clarifies their true nature as deformable bodies with maximum wave speed, and introduces elastic laws to resolve related paradoxes.

Contribution

It clarifies the correct relativistic nature of rigid bodies, corrects historical misconceptions, and generalizes elastic laws to higher dimensions for educational use.

Findings

Corrected the misconception of rigid bodies in relativity.

Generalized elastic laws for 2 and 3 dimensions.

Resolved longstanding paradoxes in relativity theory.

Abstract

The "rigid bodies" must be in Relativity the "deformable bodies" where the longitudinal waves propagate with the maximun speed $c$. In 1909, Born studied the "relativistic underformable body" but made the mistake of calling it "rigid". The "rigid body" one can find in all Relativity books is, in fact, Born's "undeformable body" of 1909. This error was at the origin of a lot of difficulties and paradoxes not yet clarifed in any relativity book. The "relativistic elastic laws for rigid bodies in one dimension" were discovered by Mc Crea, in 1952, and by A.Brotas, in 1968. The generalization of these laws for 2 and 3 dimensions resolve all those paradoxes. We propose the introdution of these laws in the elementary courses of Relativity.