A Harvard pole vaulter carries a pole that is just as long as a barn. He encounters a NJ farmer....
-
date post
21-Dec-2015 -
Category
Documents
-
view
214 -
download
1
Transcript of A Harvard pole vaulter carries a pole that is just as long as a barn. He encounters a NJ farmer....
A Harvard pole vaulter carries a pole that is just as long as a barn. He encounters a NJ farmer.
Overhead view:
Is this Nonsense? -- Space & Time are Relative
The farmer gathers 100 witnessesand this is what they see:
The pole vaulter then bursts through the second door. The witnesses ALL agree: THE FARMER WON
?According to the Pole Vaulter,
the Farmer cheats!!He shuts the front door before
the back one!
But, alas, not one witness agrees
A New Geometry for Space and Time
Space, Time, Simultaneity, Energy, Momentumare all relative
Yet, some things, like the speed of light,are absolutes (“invariants”)
t
x
SPACE-TIME DIAGRAM
Alicetakesoff
Alicereturns
Alice’s“worldline”
Kink: only Alicefeels acceleration
t
x
SPACE-TIME DIAGRAM
Alicetakesoff
Alicereturns
Alice’s“worldline”
Longest timebetween two events is a straight line