Recent content by The New Guy

Harald, Thank you for your concern in my trying to understand SR. However, I regret to say that I had a little difficulty following your prior post. You started out by quoting me, and replying with, “Calculation-wise yes; however, see further.” I’m not sure what you meant by that. The...

As I said, my understanding is less than sufficient, so if you say my description of the Lorentz Contraction does not make sense, it probably doesn’t. What has helped me the most in trying to understand this stuff is a description that starts with a constant speed of ‘c’ that must preserved...

cryticfarm, I would go out on a limb and say that I am in nearly the same boat as you. What has helped me the most in understanding what I do about special relativity are examples of why it simply has to be. I do not guarantee that the information I am about to give you is 100% accurate, but...

Thanks for the input, guys! I will not argue whether relativity and QM require new logic or not. I will, however, say that it is much harder to learn about relativity and QM because the effects are nothing like we experience in everyday life; although, with the right equipment you can observe...

Wow! That is facinating. I never would have thought of it. I actually googled the Terrell-Penrose Effect, and found this site <http://th.physik.uni-frankfurt.de/~scherer/qmd/mpegs/lampa_terrell_penrose_info.html> It really helped me to visualize what was going on here. Thanks for the help!

Oh yeah, one more quick question about relativity, but this one shouldn’t prove frustrating. Suppose that Planet Neptune considers itself to be perfectly round. Also suppose that we here on Earth are capable of observing Neptune from a telescope, and also capable of making precise measurements...

You know, ghwellsjr, I think you may have totally solved my confusion, but not in the way that you expected to solve my confusion. Let me explain. When you stated “You stated you have a ruler 10 light seconds long so that when the laser fires, it will take 10seconds for the light to get to the...

Once again, thanks for the answers. I feel like I am starting to get a better idea of how relative time, simultaneity, and space work together to preserve the speed of light from all reference frames. However, as can be expected from a confused new guy, your answers lead to more questions...

Thanks for the answer. I do have one question though. Suppose I am standing on the ground with a 10 light second ruler to my left. A spaceship with an identical ruler hanging off the back of his ship then flies past me from left to right at near the speed of light, and at the precise time that...

Hey there, guys. I’m kind of new to the whole physics thing, but I am starting on a quest to try and learn as much about how this universe works as I can. I am currently working on developing a good understanding of special and general relativity. I am not overly math-competent, so I have been...