Solving Lorentz Transformations for Light Speed c

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on applying Lorentz transformations to understand the speed of light (c) when traveling at a velocity of 0.5c. The user seeks clarification on how to calculate the speed of a photon relative to their motion, acknowledging that traditional subtraction methods do not yield the correct result. The solution lies in utilizing Equation 11.12 from the referenced materials, which accurately demonstrates how to apply Lorentz transformations to achieve the invariant speed of light.

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  • Understanding of Lorentz transformations
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  • Study the derivation and application of Lorentz transformations in detail
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RK1992
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Sorry, this is a really basic question which will possibly annoy you and I'm embarrassed to even be asking this :blushing:

But if you travel at say 0.5c to the left (relative to your axes) and a photon of light goes past you to the right at c (again relative to your axes) what are the sums that you do to measure its speed and get c?

Obviously the old way of approaching it is to say "Oh, its 0.5c - c = -0.5c relative to my motion" but we know that it's not.

So how do we actually apply the lorentz transformation to get the result c? I can't find anything going over this so basically :redface:

Thanks
 
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