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zoobyshoe
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I'm looking through One Two Three...Infinity by George Gamow. After having explained length contraction with the example of two ships passing in space who each view the other as contracted he comments in a footnote:
"Of course this is all a theoretical picture. Actually if two rocket ships passed each other traveling at such speeds as we are here considering, the passengers on either ship would not be able to see the other at all - any more than you can see a bullet fired from a rifle at a fraction of this speed."
One two Three...Infinity, by George Gamow
-p.101, Chapter V: Relativity of Space and Time
This brings up an important question about the general usefullness of length contraction. Since it could never be seen with the naked eye, anyway, I wonder in what regard it ever has any practical importance.
How is length contraction "seen" and taken into consideration in the areas of physics that actually use relativity?
"Of course this is all a theoretical picture. Actually if two rocket ships passed each other traveling at such speeds as we are here considering, the passengers on either ship would not be able to see the other at all - any more than you can see a bullet fired from a rifle at a fraction of this speed."
One two Three...Infinity, by George Gamow
-p.101, Chapter V: Relativity of Space and Time
This brings up an important question about the general usefullness of length contraction. Since it could never be seen with the naked eye, anyway, I wonder in what regard it ever has any practical importance.
How is length contraction "seen" and taken into consideration in the areas of physics that actually use relativity?
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