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Tommy1995
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In simple terms could someone please explain to me the reason why space contracts when approaching the speed of light?
Tommy1995 said:But if I had to choose i guess space contraction, as a rocket zooms through space at near speeds of light, the space infront of it will contract in length
The reason why is because the laws of physics are the same in all frames and also the speed of light is the same in all frames.Tommy1995 said:In simple terms could someone please explain to me the reason why space contracts when approaching the speed of light?
DiracPool said:To Alice, Bob started out his “jog around the track” at 1 GeV, but now he’s put on a few pounds and is riding about 3 TeV. However, Bob still thinks he weighs 1 GeV because he’s in his own reference frame. Well, he thinks so, until he runs into George coming at him from the other direction and instead of them just bumping chests at 1+1=2GeV, they explode upon impact at 3+3=6 TeV.
Please don't do that. If you believe that it is related, then simply post a link in one thread. Do not duplicate the question, it just leads to confusion.DiracPool said:I'm posting this in this thread and in the "mass gain at high velocities" thread because they are related.
DiracPool said:It doesn’t seem possible that, ostensibly in the same position in space, we could have one interaction at 2GeV and another at 6TeV, and that it all depends on who is looking at it?
Tommy1995 said:In simple terms could someone please explain to me the reason why space contracts when approaching the speed of light?
Tommy1995 said:arindamsinha, nicely said!
So length contraction would be a result of time dillation, because time is shortening to such a small amount of time we could look at it from the perspective of distance traveled and divide that by velocity in order to get the time taken. Length would have to change in order for the equation to make up for the time! tyvm
[could someone please explain to me the reason why space contracts when approaching the speed of light?/QUOTE]
Dalespam has the answer Einstein discovered:
The reason why is because the laws of physics are the same in all frames and also the speed of light is the same in all frames.
Before Einstein, scientists assumed space and time were fixed. For example, everybody thought distances were rigid and fixed for all observers, all identical clocks will tick at the same rate. Everybody was wrong!
Einstein took a different view, that the speed of light is the constant in all [inertial] reference frames. For this to be how our universe works, Einstein realized that the struggles of other of his contemporaries, Lorentz and Fitzgerald, to explain time dilation or length contraction relative to an imaginary 'ether' were more simply answered if the speed of light was constant.
So in Special Relativity Einstein figured out relative velocity affects time and distance; in GR he went further and found that gravity is the curvature of space and time...Spacetime curvature IS gravity.
Nobody knows exactly why our universe works this way.
Tommy1995 said:So length contraction would be a result of time dillation
I agree with arindamsinha, neither is the result of the other. You can certainly conceive of transforms that have length contraction but not time dilation or transforms that have time dilation but not length contraction.arindamsinha said:I am not sure whether in Relativity we can say length contraction is a result of time dilation. Best to say the two phenomena go hand in hand.
DaleSpam said:I agree with arindamsinha, neither is the result of the other. You can certainly conceive of transforms that have length contraction but not time dilation or transforms that have time dilation but not length contraction.
I would say that both are results of the two postulates: the principle of relativity and the invariance of c.
I think all three follow from the two postulates. It is also easy to come up with transformations that have time dilation not relativity of simultaneity or that do not have time dilation but do have relativity of simultaneity, so I think that it is incorrect to say that time dilation follows from relativity of simultaneity. Similarly with length contraction.Nugatory said:Although this is to some extent an aesthetic preference, I find myself saying they both follow from relativity of simultaneity, which in turn follows from the two postulates.
Space contraction, also known as length contraction, is a phenomenon described by Einstein's theory of special relativity. It occurs when an object moves at speeds close to the speed of light, causing its length to appear shorter in the direction of motion. This is due to the fact that space and time are relative, and as an object's speed increases, time slows down and distances appear shorter.
No, space itself is not physically contracting. It is simply an illusion caused by the effects of special relativity on our perception of space and time. This phenomenon only occurs at extremely high speeds and is not noticeable in our everyday lives.
Yes, space contraction has been observed and confirmed through various experiments, such as the famous Michelson-Morley experiment and the Hafele-Keating experiment. These experiments have shown that the speed of light remains constant in all frames of reference, supporting the idea of space contraction.
No, space contraction can occur anywhere an object is moving at high speeds. This includes both space and Earth. However, due to the fact that objects on Earth do not typically travel at speeds close to the speed of light, the effects of space contraction are not noticeable in our everyday lives.
Space contraction is an important concept in understanding the behavior of objects at high speeds. It is a fundamental aspect of Einstein's theory of special relativity, which has greatly advanced our understanding of the universe. It explains many previously unexplainable phenomena and has allowed for the development of technologies such as GPS systems and particle accelerators.