Postulates of special relativity:
These two apparently simple postulates imply dramatic changes in how we must visualize length, time and simultaneity.
1. The distance between two points and the time interval between two events both depend on the frame of reference in which they are measured.
2. Events at different locations that occur simultaneously in one frame are not simultaneous in another frame moving uniformly with respect to the first.
To see what exactly is true, we need to first think about how an inertial reference frame is defined. We use a coordinate grid and a set of synchronized clocks throughout all space. As an aside, we should note that we are already questioning that such a picture actually exists when looking at very tiny distance scales where
effects of quantum gravity are expected to enter.
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