Does length contraction apply only to objects, or to space as well?
On the one hand, sources like this seem to imply that it applies only to objects: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell%27s_spaceship_paradox
On the other hand, most people on this forum seem to believe it applies to space as...
That's a fair criticism. By "To X," I mean just, "In X's reality." If X is inertial, that's the same as saying "In X's frame." If X is accelerating, then, yes, we'd be talking about a range of frames.
I think it's consistent. When I decelerate after striking clock 1, I'm accelerating away from clock 2. The traveling twin, during "turnaround" is accelerating toward the stationary twin. So I think it makes sense that, to me, time at clock 2 would move backward, and, to the traveling twin...
Here's my understanding: to the the traveling twin, the stationary twin does move back in time. This is just like in the example that Jesse explained above - If I suddenly decelerated when I struck clock 1, then clock 2 would move back in time (from year 16 to year 0).
However, this takes...
So, I'm still trying to put all this together. Please let me know if I've got anything wrong. In the twin paradox, would the attached diagram, in which the "traveling twin" occupies the vertical axis, accurately depict the transmission of light pulses from the stationary twin to the traveling...
Oh man! You mean the Barnard Slingshot-Telescope I've spent all this time constructing is NOT going revolutionize the field of astronomy?
Okay, in all seriousness, thanks for your replies. They really helped.
I wasn't attempting to demonstrate anything in particular, just trying to determine...
Jesse,
Thanks so much for your response. It made a lot of sense. I wonder if I could use your numbers to pose another question I have about simultaneity.
So at the time I strike clock 1, if I look ahead to clock 2, I should see clock 2 display a time of 4 years. (16 years, the actual time...
Very simple thought experiment about time dilation:
Let's say I have two clocks that are a substantial distance (light years) apart, at rest with respect to each other. The clocks are Einstein synchronized. Also, the clocks are specially designed to withstand any force or collision. However...
I was thinking about the Andromeda paradox and the following occurred to me. Any thoughts on whether this would be possible?
I'm driving my car in a remote, non-light polluted location and ahead of me, just above the horizon. I see a very-distant star (a supernova). Just then, I see the...
Okay, so in terms of the train hypo, the Transverse Doppler effect would just seem to add to paradox. It's a reason for the clocks to appear to run even slower ("redder") than they would under time dilation alone. Or is "Transverse Doppler Effect" just another way of saying "pure time...
George,
Thanks for your reply. I was hoping to take the doppler effect out of the equation in my hypo, by having the observers look straight out their train windows, not ahead or toward the rear, so that at any given instant, the clock they were observing was traveling laterally, not...
I'm still trying to understand time dilation, the twin paradox, and the effect of acceleration.
Yes, I've read the twin paradox FAQ, but it only gets me so far.
Here's a hypo I came up with. I've tried to simplify it by (a) making the observers symmetrical and (b) eliminating the...