What Does the Lorentz Force Have to do with Special Relativity?
Georg Galeczki
Peter Marquardt
Keywords: Special Relativity; Maxwell equations; Lorentz force
The Lorentz force F = q(E + v x B) is independent of Maxwell?s field equations and is not derivable as a ?Lorentz-transformed Coulomb-law?. The similarity with the ?Lorentz-transformed? normal (to u) component of E, En' = (En + u x B) , where u denotes the uniform, relative velocity between two fictitious inertial frames of reference (IFR?s), is misleading. If at all, the Lorentz force pertains to external B-fields produced by closed currents. The violation of Newton?s third principle and, therefore, of the energy conservation law, cannot be avoided even if one takes radiation from accelerated charges into account.
