- #1
Superstring
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Imagine a room in a spaceship. At each end, a laser is set up that points toward the center. At the center of the room there is a double-sided light detector that is connected to a switch. When the switch is flipped, it completes a circuit which causes a light-bulb to turn on. If both laser beams hit the detector at the same time, the switch is flipped and the light turns on. If they hit at different times, the light remains off. The lasers are activated a remote control, also stationed at the center of the room.
From the reference frame of someone inside the ship, if they were to turn on the lasers then the beams would hit the detector at the same time and they would see the light turn on. However, if someone in a passing spaceship (passing in the same direction as the laser beams) were to watch this, they would see the beams hit the detector at different times and the light would not turn on.
So does the light turn on or not? Or both, somehow?
From the reference frame of someone inside the ship, if they were to turn on the lasers then the beams would hit the detector at the same time and they would see the light turn on. However, if someone in a passing spaceship (passing in the same direction as the laser beams) were to watch this, they would see the beams hit the detector at different times and the light would not turn on.
So does the light turn on or not? Or both, somehow?