Does Time Dilation Affect Observations in Baseball?

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around a physics problem involving time dilation in the context of a baseball being hit straight up and caught at the same location. Participants are exploring the concept of proper time intervals as they relate to different observers during this event.

Discussion Character

  • Conceptual clarification, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants are examining the relevance of time for the baseball and questioning which observers can accurately record the proper time interval between the events. There is a focus on the definition of proper time and its dependence on the observer's frame of reference.

Discussion Status

The discussion is active, with participants questioning assumptions about the observers' movements and the nature of proper time. Some have suggested that a stationary observer might measure proper time, while others are considering the implications of acceleration on the baseball's motion.

Contextual Notes

Participants are navigating the constraints of the problem statement and the definitions of proper time, particularly in relation to observers who are not in an inertial frame during the baseball's trajectory.

Tranceform
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Homework Statement


A baseball player at home plate hits a pop fly straight up (the beginning event) that is caught by the catcher at home plate (the ending event). Which one or more of the following obeservers record(s) the proper time interval between the two events? (a) A spectator sitting in the strands (b) A spectator watching the game home on TV (c) The third baseman running to cover the play

Homework Equations


\Delta t=\frac{\Delta t_{0}}{\sqrt{1-\frac{v^2}{c^2}}}

The Attempt at a Solution


As I understood time dilution it occurs when an object is moving and the obeserver is not inertial with the movement of the object. In this case neither of the observers is moving with the object (the baseball) so no one of the observers should be able to records the proper time interval between the two events. Only a clock that was a attached to the baseball itself would do that. Please explain why this view is not correct.
 
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In this case neither of the observers is moving with the object (the baseball)
Is time for the baseball relevant?

Check the problem statement - proper time of what is asked for?
 
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mfb said:
Is time for the baseball relevant?

Check the problem statement - proper time of what is asked for?
Proper time between the two events. I guess then that since the events take place at the same place, the proper time is measured according to an observer inertial for those two places, which would be a stationary observer.

However if the time measured would have been only on the baseball going up (but not down), the proper time measured would have had to move along with the baseball?
 
Tranceform said:
Proper time between the two events. I guess then that since the events take place at the same place, the proper time is measured according to an observer inertial for those two places, which would be a stationary observer.
Right.

However if the time measured would have been only on the baseball going up (but not down), the proper time measured would have had to move along with the baseball?
What's the endpoint you consider here?
The highest point of the ball? Then neither is right, as proper time corresponds to the time you see in an inertial (not accelerated!) frame moving from one point to the other. As we do not consider general relativity here, the ball is accelerated.
Still the surface? Then see the original problem.
 

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