- #1
JM
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Clocks and time are not the same thing. Time is a property of nature observable as changes. Day turns to night, summer follows winter, and rivers flow downstream. Clocks, however, are man made objects that do what we tell them to do. For everyday use we regulate clocks to match the noon-to-noon interval,we use stop watches to compare race contestants, and for rocket launches the clocks count backwards.
Asserting the relation for synchronizing clocks ( Einstein, 1905) ta1+ta2 =2 tb represents the use of the isotropic nature of light to tell the clocks a and b how to relate to each other. Taking t(X,Y,Z,T) as the time of the moving frame, and entering the coordinates of the stationaryframe X,Y,Z,T for the light emission at ta1,the reflection at tb, and the return at ta2 (taking account of the Postulate of Constant Light Speed ) leads to the transform relation t = (T-vX/c2)/√(1-v2/c2). When entering values of X and T as independent variablesthe dimensions of t are the same as those of T. The analysis as a whole suggests that t is a time assigned to the clocks of the moving frame by the properties of light, and is not related to any everyday time the clocks might have. SR time is more like a stopwatdh, measuring t and T as each frame has its own view of the light wave.
For me, these ideas greatly clarify SR clocks, anyone else?
Asserting the relation for synchronizing clocks ( Einstein, 1905) ta1+ta2 =2 tb represents the use of the isotropic nature of light to tell the clocks a and b how to relate to each other. Taking t(X,Y,Z,T) as the time of the moving frame, and entering the coordinates of the stationaryframe X,Y,Z,T for the light emission at ta1,the reflection at tb, and the return at ta2 (taking account of the Postulate of Constant Light Speed ) leads to the transform relation t = (T-vX/c2)/√(1-v2/c2). When entering values of X and T as independent variablesthe dimensions of t are the same as those of T. The analysis as a whole suggests that t is a time assigned to the clocks of the moving frame by the properties of light, and is not related to any everyday time the clocks might have. SR time is more like a stopwatdh, measuring t and T as each frame has its own view of the light wave.
For me, these ideas greatly clarify SR clocks, anyone else?