- #1
sarahisme
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inconsistency in special relativity?
Hey i was just thinking about some of the stuff we have done in SR, and i thought of this situation, and i come up with an inconsistency.
the situation is, you have a rod moving at 0.76c relative to you (the observer). its moving to the right.
if the rest length of the ruler ( call it L') is 400m.
and then if a light signal is sent from one end of the rod to the other
if t' is the time it takes for the light signal to go from one one end of the rod to the other in the frame at which the rod is at rest. then
[tex] t' = \frac{L'}{c} [/tex]
= 1.333 x 10^{-6} s
and if t is the time it takes for the light signal to go from one end to the other in the rest frame of the observer.
since the observer see the length of the rod to be [tex] \frac{L'}{\gamma} [/tex]
then the time it takes for the light signal to reach the other end according to the observer is:
[tex] t = \frac{\frac{L'}{\gamma}}{c} + \frac{vt}{c} [/tex]
= 3.611 x 10^{-6} s s
shouldnt these times be the same? or am i going crazy?
Thanks
-Sarah
Hey i was just thinking about some of the stuff we have done in SR, and i thought of this situation, and i come up with an inconsistency.
the situation is, you have a rod moving at 0.76c relative to you (the observer). its moving to the right.
if the rest length of the ruler ( call it L') is 400m.
and then if a light signal is sent from one end of the rod to the other
if t' is the time it takes for the light signal to go from one one end of the rod to the other in the frame at which the rod is at rest. then
[tex] t' = \frac{L'}{c} [/tex]
= 1.333 x 10^{-6} s
and if t is the time it takes for the light signal to go from one end to the other in the rest frame of the observer.
since the observer see the length of the rod to be [tex] \frac{L'}{\gamma} [/tex]
then the time it takes for the light signal to reach the other end according to the observer is:
[tex] t = \frac{\frac{L'}{\gamma}}{c} + \frac{vt}{c} [/tex]
= 3.611 x 10^{-6} s s
shouldnt these times be the same? or am i going crazy?
Thanks
-Sarah
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