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capslock
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Dear All, Have a small problem:
Two chaps attempt to demonstrate the phenomenon of Fitzgerald-Lorentz contraction. The two meet at the centre of a fast train which is L = 500m long and traveling at a speech of u = 0.7c to synchronize their watches.
One sits at the front of the train while the other sits at the back. At a previously agreed time, both drop a bag of flour from the train so that it marks the ground beneath. When the train has stopped, they drive back to where they dropped the bags and measure the distance between the two marks. What distance do they measure? Have they actually demonstrated the Fitzgerald Lorentz contraction?*CONFUSED* Surely as they are in the same train, they are in the same inertial frame of reference? And hence, relativistic effects will not be relavent?
Two chaps attempt to demonstrate the phenomenon of Fitzgerald-Lorentz contraction. The two meet at the centre of a fast train which is L = 500m long and traveling at a speech of u = 0.7c to synchronize their watches.
One sits at the front of the train while the other sits at the back. At a previously agreed time, both drop a bag of flour from the train so that it marks the ground beneath. When the train has stopped, they drive back to where they dropped the bags and measure the distance between the two marks. What distance do they measure? Have they actually demonstrated the Fitzgerald Lorentz contraction?*CONFUSED* Surely as they are in the same train, they are in the same inertial frame of reference? And hence, relativistic effects will not be relavent?