Teaching special relativity at the hundredth anniversary of Einstein's "anno mirabilis"

Abstract

We show that the transformation of relativistic velocities derived without using the Lorentz-Einstein transformation for the space-time coordinates of the same event and the fact that we can define the proper value of length, time interval, mass, electric field intensity enable us to derive transformation equations for the space-time coordinates of the same event, for mass (energy) and momentum of the same particle, for the electric field intensity and magnetic induction generated by the same moving charged particle or electromagnetic wave and for the frequency and the wave number of the same electromagnetic wave. The derivations involve a single scenario: a moving particle that generates events, carries mass (energy) and momentum, electric charge creating electric and magnetic fields. A plane electromagnetic wave is also involved.