Lorent's time transformation Feynman 15-6 simultaneity

[nitai108]

Feynman makes an example (15-6 in his lectures) about failure of simultaneity at a distance, using the Lorentz's transformation of time.
A man moving in a spaceship (system S') synchronizes two clocks, placing them at each end of the ship, by a light signal sent from the middle of the ship, and he assumes the clocks are synchronized. An observer in system S reasons that since the ship is moving forward the clock in the front is running away from the signal, and the one in the back is moving toward the signal, therefore the signal reached the rear clock first, and they are not synchronized.

My question is, in the system S' are the clock synchronized? In S the are not synchronized, is this correct?
If the light travels at the same velocity they should be synchronized in S', and because the clocks travel at the same velocity in the spaceship they should read the same time in the S system (but they don't because they are separated by a distance x, which modifies the time transformation in the Lorentz's transformation, is this correct?).

 

[Dale]

My question is, in the system S' are the clock synchronized? In S the are not synchronized, is this correct?

Yes, and yes. The clocks are synchronized in S' but not in S. This is the relativity of simultaneity, and it is the most difficult concept in SR. Once you get this one down, the rest are easy.

 

[nitai108]

Thanks!