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daselocution
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Homework Statement
Hey All; I am trying to follow along with the following example in my book, but I am getting lost somewhere.
"We can perform another gedanken experiment to arrive at the same result (showing that length contraction is described as L=Lo/γ; this time we lay the meterstick along the x' axis in the moving system K'. The two systems are aligned at t=t'=0. A mirror is placed at the end of the meterstick, and a flashbulb goes off at the origen at t=t'=0, sending a light pulse down the x' axis where it is reflected and returned. Mary (in the Moving system sees the stick at rest in the system K' and measures the proper length Lo (which should be 1 meter). Mary uses the same clock fixed at x'=0 for the time measurements. The stick is moving at speed v with respect to Frank (in the Fixed system K). The clocks at x=x'=0 both read zero when the origens are aligned just when the flashbulb goes off. Notice that in system K, by the time the light reaches the mirror the entire stick as moved a distance vt1 and by the time the light has been reflected back to the front of the stick again the stick as moved another total distance vt2; you should be able to find the solution in terms of length contraction as in the earlier examples.
I've tried it a few times and I'm really not sure where I keep on screwing up, but I cannot get derive the equation for length contraction using the lorentz transformations.