Re: A funny kind of rectilinearity

Mark Adkins got to the point:

> my basic point: the
> mathematical basis for "time dilation" disappears altogether when the
> principle of the relativity of simultaneity is properly (universally)
> applied, that is to say, applied to include (rather than exclude as a
> special case) the clock synchronization procedure.

Say what? Two different frames, say A and B, already have their
own convention to determine simultaneity - that's part of the
definition of an inertial frame in special relativity. Time
dilation is simply the determination by B that A's clock rate,
although lasting exactly one tick per second by A's measurements,
is longer when measured by the clocks in the B frame.

The mathematical basis for time dilation is fairly simple
geometry. In fact, the implications of the underlying geometry
are far more interesting, physically, than all the gee-whiz
stories about twin parodoxes or semantic nonsense about how
clocks are slowed by their velocity. Relativity is fundamentally
about symmetry, and symmetry is described by geometry.


---Tim Shuba---
.

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