An alternative to special relativity: How a flawed experiment and misunderstanding of the fundamental laws of physics diverted physicists from their logical path

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to show how the result of an erroneous experiment and the lack of understanding of the basic laws of Newtonian mechanics and its application diverted the progress of an important branch of theoretical physics from its true path and led to the creation of the theory of relativity (SR). Every year, many new papers regarding this theory are published that show its many contradictions and anomalies. This paper shows why Einstein's theory of relativity is theoretically and fundamentally incorrect and why, despite its problems, the theory gives some empirical predictions. A more logical solution based on Newtonian mechanics and on experiments and observations plus the concept of ether, leading to the same results, is proposed. As an example, mass-energy equivalence <mml:math display="inline"> <mml:mi>E</mml:mi> <mml:mo>≅</mml:mo> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>c</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:math> is derived to show that Newtonian mechanics is adequate in the domain of high-speed particles. The derivation in this paper is by a similar technique to what has been previously published by the same author but with a different method of calculation. The paper also shows that SR does not explain, as claimed by Einstein, the null result of the Michelson and Morley experiment, which is the basis for the theory. It explains why the error in the experiment is hidden and difficult to detect. It also gives more information about the three previously published papers by the same author and endeavors to give a more comprehensive explanation as to what went wrong in this branch of theoretical physics.