Re: Length Contraction

From: Nicolaas Vroom (nicolaas.vroom_at_pandora.be)
Date: 02/12/05 

Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 17:09:39 GMT

"Jesse Mazer" <vze2ztqw@mail.verizon.net> schreef in bericht
news:420C5076.7060205@mail.verizon.net...
>
>
> Michael J. Strickland wrote:
>
> > A car of length L drives across a bridge which has a gap of length L
> > in the middle.
> >
> > 1. In the bridge frame, the car is length contracted to less than L
> > and the car falls through the gap.
> >
> > 2. In the car frame, the gap is length contracted to less than L and
> > the car does not fall through the gap.
> >
> >
> > Which of these two events occurs?
> >
> >
> >
> > No references to other documents (e.g. web sites) please.
> >
> >
> > --
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------
> > Michael J. Strickland
> > Quality Services qualityser@att.net
> > <mailto:qualityser@att.net>
> > 703-560-7380
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Are you imagining that a car driving over a hole larger than itself will
> remain perfectly horizontal until the exact moment the back wheel passes
> the back end of the hole and the front end still has not passed the
> front end of the hole? That's cartoon physics...once you take into
> account that the front of the car begins to drop even if the back wheel
> is still on solid bridge, the problem becomes a lot more complicated,
> you might even need general relativity to deal with it since Newtonian
> gravity is not Lorentz-invariant. Why don't you come up with a variation
> on this problem that could happen in zero-G, and then it will be pretty
> simple to show what the answer is according to SR.
>

Did you ever perform this experiment ?
( I expect you never did)

If yes: What was the outcome ?
If No: How do you know that the outcome is acccordingly to SR.

What is the outcome accordingly to SR ?
Does the car "fall" through the gap ? (at a speed of c/2)

Nicolaas Vroom.

> Jesse
>

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