A Note on the Relativistic Problem of Uniform Rotation

Abstract

A study of uniform rotational motion about an axis is made on the basis of a definition of hydrokinetic character. A solution is found in which the particle speed is linear with distance from the axis of rotation to terms in ${\left(\frac{R{\omega }_0}{c}\right)}^2$, but approaches the speed of light at great distances. This result is unchanged by the introduction of relativistic accelerated Euclidean axes. Reasons are given for concluding that Ehrenfest's paradox in the problem of the rotating disk, and the question of the "geometry" of the motion, in the sense of general relativity theory, can be answered only on the basis of a theory of the generation of the rotation.