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YellowTaxi
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45 degree mirrors in Special Relativity
If a moving 45 degree mirror is length contracted doesn't that mean a ray hitting it from the front will appear (from the stationary observer) to contradict the laws of reflection. ie the angle of incidence will not be equal to the angle of reflection. That is, the mirror will appear to be sitting at say something like 30 degrees from the vertical (depending on speed) but still deflect a horizontral ray straight up !
Likewise if the moving mirror DOES appear to be at 45 degrees after length contraction, the ray will NOT go straight up but rather deflect slightly behind the mirror :-)
Is this true ? And does SR have any problems with this ?
Or is it just an example of relativistic aberration ?
If a moving 45 degree mirror is length contracted doesn't that mean a ray hitting it from the front will appear (from the stationary observer) to contradict the laws of reflection. ie the angle of incidence will not be equal to the angle of reflection. That is, the mirror will appear to be sitting at say something like 30 degrees from the vertical (depending on speed) but still deflect a horizontral ray straight up !
Likewise if the moving mirror DOES appear to be at 45 degrees after length contraction, the ray will NOT go straight up but rather deflect slightly behind the mirror :-)
Is this true ? And does SR have any problems with this ?
Or is it just an example of relativistic aberration ?
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