Length contraction experiment with null result?

I devised a simple length contraction experiment. However when I do
the experiment I don't get Einstein's result. Admittedly, my
experiment is rather simple, and there is uncertainty in some of the
measurements and I simulate part of the physical interactions, but I
don't see how they substantially affect the experimental result. I
was hoping one of the relativity gurus can explain how this simple
length contraction experiment should work, and which parameter in the
experiment gives the flawed result.

Seppala's Circle Experiment
This experiment is very simple. A rod at rest is in the shape of a
circle of radius R and has a circumference pi * 2R. The rod then
rotates with constant angular velocity V and we measure the change in
the radius of the circle due to the length contraction of the moving
rod. The idea being that each arc segment has a length contraction
due to its motion, and when all segments are connected their length
should be less than the length of an identical rod that has zero
motion, therefore producing the change in radius. In doing the actual
experiment instead of a complete circle we use a rod that is only a
small arc segment of the circle. So let the length of the rod = 10
cm. Let V = 0.03 m/second. Let R = 100 light-years. With these
parameters the change in radius should be easily measureable (many
10's of meters). So if we start the motion of this rod along a
slightly curved path with an angular velocity of 3 cm per second,
shouldn't the length contraction cause the rod to move 10's of meters
essentially perpendicular to V over a very short time interval? But
of course the 10 cm rod does not exhibit that motion. So where does
the experiment fail?
Some may suggest that there is some physical effect that must be
transmitted from atom to atom along the large circle. They may think
that takes an extremely long time to show up and hence using the 10 cm
arc length invalidates any measureable effect showing up in the
experiment. However, Einstein's length contraction is a property of
space and not due to properties of materials, and in a short 10 cm
segment there is only a very very small change in length and therefore
shows up almost immediately in any straight line 10 cm rod that is
accelerated from zero to 3 cm per second. So in our circle experiment
the effects should show up almost immediately and we can apply
extremely small forces to the ends of our 10 cm rod to simulate the
effect connected segments would have had if we had done the experiment
with a complete circle.
And in our experiment the slightly bent rod must travel in an arc
that is almost a straight line. We can accomplish this motion in a
number of ways but the extremely small forces needed for this motion
will not cause the 10 cm rod to move 10's of meters in the radial
direction over a relatively short time interval. So if there is no
observed physical motion in the radial direction as we give the rod an
angular velocity, then the length contraction does not appear for
motion that varies slightly from a straight line. If it does show up,
how long does it take for the radius to change and why doesn't it show
up when using a small arc segment? How is this explained?
David Seppala
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Length contraction experiment with null result?
    ... length contraction experiment should work, ... circle of radius R and has a circumference pi * 2R. ... The rod then ...
    (sci.physics.relativity)
  • Re: Length contraction experiment with null result?
    ... A rod at rest is in the shape of a ... circle of radius R and has a circumference pi * 2R. ... motion, therefore producing the change in radius. ...
    (sci.physics.relativity)
  • Re: The true crackpots
    ... >> Or, according to SR, physical bodies set in motion only shorten in the ... ROTFLOL....You don't even understand what length contraction means in SR. ... It is the geometric projection of the moving rod onto the observer's ...
    (sci.physics.relativity)
  • Re: length contraction difficulty
    ... another which showed that length contraction of the rod cannot take ... instaneously but that in a very long rod the ... accelerate all points of both rods into the moving frame, ... Time dilation is spherical, greatest in the direction of motion, least in ...
    (sci.physics.relativity)
  • Re: take this, relativists!!
    ... >>us how much a rod will contract if it makes an angle of theta with its ... When declaring what relativity ... > SR does indeed handle motion in arbitrary directions. ... Thus if there is motion along y, then there is a y contraction. ...
    (sci.physics)