- #1
coktail
- 118
- 1
Here's a question from a coworker:
Based on the idea that the tips of fan blades move faster the base relative to the center of the fan, if you were to somehow put a very, very (impossibly) long pole through the spinning Earth, could the tips of the pole reach c or faster given that the pole was long enough?
I know the answer is "no," and that it involves time dilation, length contraction, and possibly the relativity of simultaneity, but I wasn't sure how to explain it in this scenario.
This question could also be asked in more abstract terms, but my coworker likes the Earth/pole thing, so I went with that.
I'd really appreciate an explanation from the perspective of an observer on Earth measuring the relative velocity of the tip of the pole, as well as from the perspective of of an observer on the tip of the pole measuring the relative velocity of Earth.
As always, thank you!
Based on the idea that the tips of fan blades move faster the base relative to the center of the fan, if you were to somehow put a very, very (impossibly) long pole through the spinning Earth, could the tips of the pole reach c or faster given that the pole was long enough?
I know the answer is "no," and that it involves time dilation, length contraction, and possibly the relativity of simultaneity, but I wasn't sure how to explain it in this scenario.
This question could also be asked in more abstract terms, but my coworker likes the Earth/pole thing, so I went with that.
I'd really appreciate an explanation from the perspective of an observer on Earth measuring the relative velocity of the tip of the pole, as well as from the perspective of of an observer on the tip of the pole measuring the relative velocity of Earth.
As always, thank you!
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