- #1
HarryWertM
- 99
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Two spacecraft in inertial motion have relative velocity .5c. The ships have identical "grandfather" clocks very much like earthly grandfather clocks, except that the force of gravity is replaced by Coulomb repulsion.
[The clocks have charged plates on either side of a charged pendulum. Inertia drives the pendulum [penduli?] and Coulomb repulsion pushes the penduli back and forth. The clocks "run down" rapidly due to radiated energy, but for a short time they provide a weird highly predictable timing device.]
Each ship sees that the other ship has a heavier pendulum but equal [Coulomb] restoring force, so each ship sees that the other's pendulum swings back more slowly. My question is: If I simply plug in the appropriate higher relativistic mass into some equation [I know not what!] will I get exactly the usual "gamma" factor for the relative slowing of each ship's clock? I do not trust any equation I set up at all.
[The clocks have charged plates on either side of a charged pendulum. Inertia drives the pendulum [penduli?] and Coulomb repulsion pushes the penduli back and forth. The clocks "run down" rapidly due to radiated energy, but for a short time they provide a weird highly predictable timing device.]
Each ship sees that the other ship has a heavier pendulum but equal [Coulomb] restoring force, so each ship sees that the other's pendulum swings back more slowly. My question is: If I simply plug in the appropriate higher relativistic mass into some equation [I know not what!] will I get exactly the usual "gamma" factor for the relative slowing of each ship's clock? I do not trust any equation I set up at all.