Special relativity connects measurable clock rates, length contraction, light propagation, and four-momentum through the Lorentz transformation. Tests probe particular predictions rather than measuring a coordinate transformation in isolation. Examples include cosmic-ray muon time-dilation experiments, muon storage-ring time-dilation experiments, the Michelson-Morley experiment, the Fizeau experiment, and particle-collision energy and momentum balances.
William Bertozzi compared electron time-of-flight speeds with independently measured kinetic energies using electrostatic and linear acceleration. The 1964 report covers 0.5–15 MeV and uses calorimetry to check deposited energy. Speed approaches the light-speed limit while energy continues rising, testing relativistic energy against an unrestricted Newtonian extrapolation.[ref]
Speed and Kinetic Energy of Relativistic Electrons by William Bertozzi. 1964 abstract and experimental procedure
An interferometer compares round-trip light travel times along perpendicular arms as its orientation changes. The absence of the classical stationary-aether fringe shift at the expected scale constrains orientation dependence of the round-trip speed of light. The result is consistent with special relativity, but alone does not select it uniquely from every alternative theory.[ref]
On the Relative Motion of the Earth and the Luminiferous Ether by Albert Abraham Michelson and Edward W. Morley. 1887 report, interferometer arrangement and comparison of predicted and observed orientation-dependent shifts
The 1887 Michelson-Morley experiment apparatus
. Historical photograph credited by Wikimedia Commons to Case Western Reserve University; public domain in the United States. The stone support floated in a trough of mercury so that the interferometer could turn. Source.The instrument's stone support and floating mounting allowed the experimenters to change its orientation while limiting mechanical disturbance. The measured quantity was the fringe shift produced as the apparatus rotated, rather than a direct timing of a single light pulse.[ref]
On the Relative Motion of the Earth and the Luminiferous Ether by Albert Abraham Michelson and Edward W. Morley. 1887 report, apparatus description and observation procedure
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Tests of special relativity refer to experiments and observations designed to verify the predictions made by Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity, which was published in 1905. Special relativity fundamentally changed our understanding of space and time, introducing concepts such as the constancy of the speed of light, time dilation, length contraction, and the equivalence of mass and energy (E=mc²).