Abstract

A novel view of space, time, and inertial frames that maintains the absolute nature of time is presented. One but arbitrary inertial frame say S, is considered stationary and identified with the absolute space, while all other inertial frames are moving relative to S. The constancy of the light's velocity in free space within each inertial frame is postulated and employed to link time durations measurements to geometric distance. The geometric distance in the chosen stationary frame plays the decisive role in the determination of time and distance in all inertial frames. A unique time prevails in all inertial frames, but distance between a moving object in S and a stationary observer in S is identified by the optical length of a light trip from the object to the observer; this distance functions as the geometric distance in the frame in which the object is at rest when the latter frame is considered stationary. The arbitrariness of the chosen stationary frame guarantees that all inertial frames are equivalent, and according the physical laws are the same in all. The so-called scaling transformations which relate the geometric distances in S and in a moving frame are derived and applied to explain the Doppler's effect and the lifetime of meta-stable particles phenomenon. The quantitative predicted Doppler's effect, which is in a striking agreement with the Ives-Stilwell experimental results, coincides with the relativistic prediction for longitudinal motion, but yet predicts complete absence of a traverse effect. The direction of the light trip is observed from a moving frame to be tilted from its direction in the stationary frame by the aberration angle; a fact which is employed to explain the phenomenon of stellar aberration. The true status of the Lorentz transformations as an equivalent form of the scaling transformation is illuminated. In a forthcoming part of this work, a second type of scaling transformations corresponding to given beginning and end of a light's trip in a stationary frame is derived and employed to explain the Michelson and Morley experiment, the Michelson and Gale experiment, and the Sagnac effect. The translative nature of the latter effect is explored and studied in detail. The pioneer anomaly which can be explained by Euclidation of optical measurements will be discussed separately.