SPECIAL  THEORY  OF 

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Peculiar Relativistic Effects


theory-bullet.gif (1023 bytes)Length Contraction and Time Dilation

One of the strangest parts of special relativity is the conclusion that two observers who are moving relative to one another, will get different measurements of the length of a particular object or the time that passes between two events Glossary Term.

Consider two observers, each in a space-ship laboratory containing clocks and meter sticks. The space ships are moving relative to each other at a speed close to the speed of light. Using Einstein's theory:

Each observer will see the meter stick of the other as shorter than their own, by the same factor gamma ( gamma- defined above). This is called length contraction.

Each observer will see the clocks in the other laboratory as ticking more slowly than the clocks in his/her own, by a factor gamma. This is called time dilation.

In particle accelerators Glossary Term, particles are moving very close to the speed of light where the length and time effects are large. This has allowed us to clearly verify that length contraction and time dilation do occur.