In the present communication, I wish to develop further several aspects of the theory of gravitation whose fundamentals I published in two previous essays and discuss it.1 The theory presented in the last essay is not completely unambiguous. First—as emphasized on p. 509 [p. 867 in the original]—the rest density of matter was defined in a fairly arbitrary way; though a different definition of the concept of mass would not change the general laws of mechanics, it would modify the laws of gravitation. Second, in the theory of gravitation, the possibility has been left open that the gravitational factor g is not a constant, but could depend on various circumstances. One can think of this scalar quantity as being dependent on the internal state of the object as well as on the gravitational potential at the location in question. A dependence of the gravitational factor on the state of stress of the body is equivalent to a change in the definition of mass, but a dependence on the gravitational potential will have a deeper significance for the theory.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Nordström, G. (2007). On the Theory of Gravitation from the Standpoint of the Principle of Relativity. In: Janssen, M., Norton, J.D., Renn, J., Sauer, T., Stachel, J. (eds) The Genesis of General Relativity. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 250. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4000-9_30
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4000-9_30
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-3999-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-4000-9
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)