Relativistic mechanics


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In physics, relativistic mechanics refers to mechanics compatible with Special Relativity (RR) and General Relativity (GR).

It provides a non-quantum description of a particle system, or a liquid, in the case where the velocities of objects are comparable to the speed of light c. As a result, classical mechanics is properly extended to particles moving at high velocities and energies, and ensures consistent inclusion of electromagnetism with particle mechanics. This is not possible in Galilean relativity, where particles and light are allowed to travel at any speed, including faster than light. The foundations of relativistic mechanics are the postulates of special relativity and general relativity. The unification of special relativity with quantum mechanics is relativistic quantum mechanics, while the attempts to do the same with general relativity is called quantum gravity, an unsolved problem of physics.

As in classical mechanics, the subject can be divided into two: the "kinematics"; the description of the movement by indicating positions, speeds and accelerations, and "dynamics"; a complete description considering the energies, pulses, kinetic moments and their laws of conservation, and the forces acting on the particles or exerted by the particles. There is, however, a subtlety; what seems to be "in motion" and what is "at rest" - which is called "static" in classical mechanics - depends on the relative speed of the observers measured in the referential.

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