do my calculations describe the mechanics behind time dilation and length contraction

peterspencers

Apologies, my last post was poorly worded. I was refering to the times given by the vertical clock and the horizontal one, before I applied the lorentz contraction. I was kinda thinking out loud, following the logical steps towards applying the contraction.

harrylin

OK - then your post #15 is effectively the same as your post #1 - only now you added the conclusion that vertical length change is not an option, and you used it as starting point. Fine.

And as a matter of fact, you could also use time dilation as starting assumption; nowadays this has been satisfyingly demonstrated.