Resolution of the Ehrenfest Paradox
Jerry Hynecek
In this article the resolution of the famous Ehrenfest paradox is presented. The paradox relates to a spinning disc and the Special Relativity Theory (SRT) applied to it. The resolution of the paradox is based on the proposition that the paradox results from an incorrect application of SRT to a system that is not in an inertial motion. The centrifugal and the centripetal forces resulting from the rotation are always present and need to be accounted for. Using the previously derived metric for an axially symmetrical space-time the effect of centrifugal and centripetal forces can be correctly included. When this is done no paradox is obtained and it is shown that the spinning disc has flat space-time geometry. The measured data from experiments conducted on such rotating systems are explained by the inertial mass increase as described by SRT
