48), owing to the fact that
the changes in energy E[0] to which we can Subject a system are not
large enough to make themselves perceptible as a change in the
inertial mass of the system.
eq. 22: file eq22.gif
is too small in comparison with the mass m, which was present before
the alteration of the energy. It is owing to this circumstance that
classical mechanics was able to establish successfully the
conservation of mass as a law of independent validity.
Let me add a final remark of a fundamental nature. The success of the
Faraday-Maxwell interpretation of electromagnetic action at a distance
resulted in physicists becoming convinced that there are no such
things as instantaneous actions at a distance (not involving an
intermediary medium) of the type of Newton's law of gravitation.
According to the theory of relativity, action at a distance with the
velocity of light always takes the place of instantaneous action at a
distance or of action at a distance with an infinite velocity of
transmission. This is connected with the fact that the velocity c
plays a fundamental role in this theory. In Part II we shall see in
what way this result becomes modified in the general theory of
relativity.
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