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goodabouthood
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Are these really just two ways of explaining the same thing?
Both are different aspects or outcomes of the theory of relativity.goodabouthood said:Are these really just two ways of explaining the same thing?
That would be DaleSpam:nitsuj said:I forget which frequent poster said it, but they called length contraction and time dilation two sides of the same coin.
I can't determine if the "coin" is distance or speed, perhaps there is little difference in this context.
DaleSpam said:You cannot have time dilation without length contraction, they are two sides of the same "coin" (the Lorentz transform).
Dmytry said:Both are results of how Lorentz transformation work. It's pointless to ask for verbal descriptions;
The length contraction is actually more of a result of relativity of simultaneity; the coordinate along the direction of motion is expanded just like time is dilated (with same gamma factor), but the coordinate intervals taken *at same moment* are contracted. To measure length of a moving object you need to measure positions of it's ends at same time, and the 'same time' is different for different observers.
Time dilation and length contraction are two concepts in special relativity that describe how time and space appear to change for an observer who is moving at a high speed relative to an object or event.
No, time dilation and length contraction are not the same thing. They are related concepts that occur simultaneously for an observer in motion, but they describe different aspects of how time and space are perceived.
Time dilation occurs when an observer is moving at a high speed relative to an object or event. This causes time to appear to slow down for the observer, meaning that events that would normally occur simultaneously may appear to happen at different times.
Length contraction occurs when an observer is moving at a high speed relative to an object or event. This causes objects to appear shorter in the direction of motion for the observer, as measured by the observer.
Some real-life examples of time dilation and length contraction include the effects of high speeds on the aging process of astronauts, the differences in time measurements between a moving clock and a stationary clock, and the observed changes in the length of objects at high speeds.