Looking at the results, I'm guessing a photon must bounce off of the moving mirror like a ball off of a moving wall ? That would explain where I've been going wrong. This would change the direction of the rebounding signal and allow it to travel back along the tube, which then works ... as you'd...
The signal is a single photon, so this shouldn't apply. If you consider a beam of light, rather than a single photon, it all gets a bit too messy.
So, for a single photon, hitting the moving mirror, angled at 55 degrees. Can the signal be bounced back along the tube ?
In the 'moving' FoR, the signal, traveling vertically between the two mirrors, is timed to be exactly at the gap within the tubes at all times & should pass through the tubes without any problems. Take a look at the earlier diagrams. The signal is a single photon, represented by the tip of the...
Hold on ...
Gets a bit confusing switching between examples. For the 'moving' observer's signal to travel at 45 degrees in the 'stationary' observer's FoR, the motion of the light across x, y must be equal. The signal must travel at 1c, along the hypotenuse, so the velocity in each direction...
Switching between FoRs to interpret what the observers see is the whole basis of the original experiment. It's where we derive the time dilation factor from. I'm not changing that, just adding a few additional objects.
The additional parts within the 'stationary' observers FoR, seem fairly...
In the 'stationery' observer's FoR, the tubes & mirror D are stationery and mirrors B and A/C (same mirror, different pos) are moving at 0.707c.
In the 'moving' observer's FoR, the mirror's A & B are stationery and the tubes and mirror D are approaching / passing at 0.707c.
In the 'moving'...
Cool. Thanks.
Ok. This is the setup as viewed by the stationery observer :
http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/6678/sr00101.png
The signal travels between the two mirrors at 45 degrees, hitting mirror D at 90 degrees, allowing it to bounce back through the tubes.
... and this is the...
A diagram would make things a lot easier. You seem to be able to include a link to an existing diagram, but not add a new diagram to any posts.
What's the best way of getting a new diagram into a post ?
Thanks.
If you imagine that in the 'stationery' observer's FoR, the light signal ascends from the bottom mirror at 45 degrees, bounces off the top mirror at 90 degrees and then hits the bottom mirror, again at 45 degrees, this gives you a triangle representing the path of the signal.
Surrounding both...
Sorry, didn't make myself clear. The tubes are straight in both FoRs, but appear at different angles. 45 degrees in the 'stationery' observer's FoR and 55 degrees in the 'moving' observer's FoR. I'm fairly sure this works okay. The question is, what happens in the 'moving' obverver's FoR when...
*** Had a chance to rethink this and still believe it makes sense, so I need somebody to put me straight :-) ***
Ok. Having been beaten senseless until I can see how the maths behind Einstein's Mirrors Experiment works, another question to help with my journey...