- #1
JulianMau
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I was reading about the Ehrenfest Paradox and it got me thinking about something (that I think is) similar:
Suppose we take a large, flat, and rigid disk, and we attach to various parts of it a number of clocks (some very close to the center of the disk, some along the edge, others in between). We synchronize all these clocks using some master clock that is at reference with respect to them, and then set the disk spinning very, very fast. Suppose we then stop the disk after the master clock reads, say, 12 hours, and compare the times of the clocks on the disk with the master clock. According to Special Relativity, what should we expect to find, and what are the implications about the structure of spacetime? How do we even know it wasn't the reference frame of the master clock that was spinning the whole time?
Am I right in suspecting that less time will have ticked off the clocks on the disk because they are moving relative to the master clock? And that the clocks nearer the center of the disk will show less time having past than those at the outer edge, due to their higher rotational velocity? What would you say any of this implies about how spacetime is structured and how I should know which frame is at rest?
Suppose we take a large, flat, and rigid disk, and we attach to various parts of it a number of clocks (some very close to the center of the disk, some along the edge, others in between). We synchronize all these clocks using some master clock that is at reference with respect to them, and then set the disk spinning very, very fast. Suppose we then stop the disk after the master clock reads, say, 12 hours, and compare the times of the clocks on the disk with the master clock. According to Special Relativity, what should we expect to find, and what are the implications about the structure of spacetime? How do we even know it wasn't the reference frame of the master clock that was spinning the whole time?
Am I right in suspecting that less time will have ticked off the clocks on the disk because they are moving relative to the master clock? And that the clocks nearer the center of the disk will show less time having past than those at the outer edge, due to their higher rotational velocity? What would you say any of this implies about how spacetime is structured and how I should know which frame is at rest?