Special Relativity Down to Earth

Top 2. Jul 17, 2000 12:58 PM

» Wes_Colley - I'm glad you liked the article

I wrote this after a spate of annoying relativity abuses on TV...

-- posted by Wes_Colley

Top 3. Aug 17, 2000 1:45 PM

» Snead - Implications

What are the practical implications of this discovery? Does it have anything to do with the different dimensions Einstein was looking for?

-- posted by Snead

Top 4. Dec 24, 2000 11:35 AM

» N321MM - Re: I'm glad you liked the article

In response to message posted by Wes_Colley:

just a short question. i've seen other explanations, but this is the best. is the behavior of time akin to the behavior of light as it's source moves towards or away from a stationary viewer? As in red and blue shifting?
JThanks Wes,
Ted

-- posted by N321MM

Top 5. Mar 3, 2001 4:10 PM

» plab - relativity

Hi Wes,

Good article on Special relativity. There is, however, something misleading about what you wrote. Your final paragraph tries to justify time dilation by using the example of the person running backward who would see the clock moving more slowly. ALthough the clock would indeed be running more slowly, this is *not* the reason for the time dilation in special relativity. If it was the correct explanation, then there would not be any "real" time dilation, but just a sort of illusion (if two people would be brought back in the same frame, they would have the same age, according to your picture).
This is why one always uses *local observers* to discuss relativistic effects. This shows clearly that the time dilation is real and not just due to the effect you described in your last paragraph. This takes more time to explain correctly, but be careful about not letting people think that your last paragraph describes what we refer to as time dilation.

My best regards
P Labelle

-- posted by plab