Date: Sun, 1 Jun 1997 10:38:35 -0700
Message-Id: <v02140b01afb24f4e35e1@[136.152.2.65]>
To: pinhole@exploratorium.edu
From: suzanna@seismo.berkeley.edu (suzanna loper)
Subject: relativity questions
Hello pinholers,
We just finished a lively dinnertable argument about relativity which
left us with many unanswered questions. In Hewitt and elsewhere they
talk about a "light clock" made by light bouncing back and forth between
two parallel mirrors on a moving spaceship. Now, suppose the mirrors are
oriented so that the light is moving parallel to the direction of motion
of the spaceship (i.e., toward the nose and then back toward the tail of
the spaceship). Now suppose that the spaceship begins accelerating
while the light is in mid-path. I assume that the light continues to
travel at "c" in that reference frame, even though it is accelerating, but
it seems that the light clock will no longer keep good time. Is this
true? And if so, is it because of the relativistic contraction, or is it
because the endpoints of the light's path are changing reference frames,
or why?
Thanks!
Suzy Loper
suzanna@seismo.berkeley.edu
Skyline High School
Oakland