| Abstract: | It has been shown by the present authors in a recent paper 1] that if some conservation and balance laws of continuum mechanics are represented in a 4 × 4 form, balance of linear physical momentum (i. e., stress) and balance of mass become closely linked. This seemingly novel result was reached in a completely ad‐hoc fashion by treating time on the same level as the spatial coordinates, and not as parameter, as it is usually done. In order to place the above ad‐hoc result on a firmer foundation and since it is in the theory of relativity that space and time are considered on the same footing, an attempt is made to derive several tensors of continuum mechanics in a systematic manner as 4 × 4 invariant objects. |
