- #1
phellen
- 19
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Dear Forum members,
I have a question regarding Special Relativity. I think its answer may be a simple and obvious one but as a complete physics amateur I cannot put my finger on it.
Imagine a long train traveling east at half the speed of light relative to a 'stationary' observer. For the first part of the experiment a beam of light is fired from the back of the train to the front. For the stationary observer the beam travels a greater distance than it does for a passenger on the train. Because of the constancy of the speed of light, this is accounted for by stating that, relative to the stationary observer, the train travels through time with less speed.
Now, for the second part of the thought experiment, the beam of light is fired from the front to back, from east to west. For the stationary observer, the light beam travels a smaller distance. Do we then infer that (because of the constancy of the speed of light) the train is in this case traveling faster through time relative to the stationary observer? If so how can this be, how can the carriages speed through time depend upon the direction of a single light beam?
Please let me know where I am going wrong in thinking this way,
Thanks
I have a question regarding Special Relativity. I think its answer may be a simple and obvious one but as a complete physics amateur I cannot put my finger on it.
Imagine a long train traveling east at half the speed of light relative to a 'stationary' observer. For the first part of the experiment a beam of light is fired from the back of the train to the front. For the stationary observer the beam travels a greater distance than it does for a passenger on the train. Because of the constancy of the speed of light, this is accounted for by stating that, relative to the stationary observer, the train travels through time with less speed.
Now, for the second part of the thought experiment, the beam of light is fired from the front to back, from east to west. For the stationary observer, the light beam travels a smaller distance. Do we then infer that (because of the constancy of the speed of light) the train is in this case traveling faster through time relative to the stationary observer? If so how can this be, how can the carriages speed through time depend upon the direction of a single light beam?
Please let me know where I am going wrong in thinking this way,
Thanks