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Experiment --> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Experiment 5
A light clock lies on its side on a railroad car as the car moves to the left
with velocity v.
Answer: We
know that the time between ticks on the moving clock, as we see it, will be tī
=
. Let, t1
= time that takes the light to go from the first mirror to the second , as we
perceive it. We
can analyze the situation as follows:
Lī+
vt1 = ct1 Similarly, Lī-
vt2 = ct2 Thus, tī
= t1 + t2 Since
t = (2L)/c,
=
Since
is less
than 1, this shows that we will measure the length of his light clock as being
less than ours. Thus, when an object is moving in a straight line with a fixed
velocity v, we will see its length, as measured in the direction in which it is
moving, shorten. |