Special Relativity and textbook exercises

A textbook exercise about a block pulled on a rough surface by a conservative force and against a dissipative frictional force is described using a 4-vector relativistic thermodynamics approach, taking into account thermal effects produced in diathermal contact with a heat reservoir. The conservative force is described using a relativistic electromagnetic formalism and the whole exercise is solved in a Lorentz covariant form, first in ‘privileged frame ’ S ∞ in which both surface and heat reservoir are at rest, and after that in frame SA, in standard configuration with respect to frame S∞. This exercise could by of interest to undergraduate students with an interest in Special Relativity and Thermodynamics