- #1
DeG
- 23
- 0
There are a few things bothering me about time dilation, its derivation, and special relativity. Einstein started with the assumptions that light travels at a constant speed no matter the observer or their frame of reference. He then details the light box experiment in which two observers are moving relative to one another (thus with different reference frames) and one observer has a box that emits a beam of light from the bottom of the box to the top where it reflects back down. The observer not in the frame with the box would record that the beam of light traveled a greater distance and since light travels at a constant speed he would say the event took longer. This is the effect of time dilation. What I don’t understand is that if the box only emits a beam of light within itself then neither observer would be able to view the event. Light has to come to you for it to be detected by you. Further more, since the observer with reference frame not containing the box is at distance it would indeed take longer for the light to reach him.
Also, I am having trouble with the assumption that light travels at the same speed relative to any observer/ reference frame. Consider the following; say we have two observers, starting in the same place, but one remains there and the other is moving away at .6 the speed of light. After 10 seconds the second observer is 6 light seconds away from the other. At this time the first observer emits a beam of light in the direction of the second. Now if the light wave is traveling at the same speed relative to both of them, it should reach the second observer in just 6 seconds (he’s only 6 light seconds away). But after another 10 seconds, the second observer is now 12 light seconds from the first and the wave front is only 10 light seconds away. So either the wave front would have to travel faster than the speed of light (and have some strange properties of extending itself to reference frames) or it must not be traveling at the speed of light relative to the second observer. Has it ever been noted that during the Michelson-Morley experiment the air, in which they conducted the experiment moved with the Earth in orbit and rotation. Even if we were dragging through an ether, who’s to say that it permeates the Earth and the atmosphere or doesn’t at least change within it? Obviously it has been experimentally shown that light travels at a constant speed, but I fear we may be misinterpreting the results.
Thanks for reading.
Think inversely.
Also, I am having trouble with the assumption that light travels at the same speed relative to any observer/ reference frame. Consider the following; say we have two observers, starting in the same place, but one remains there and the other is moving away at .6 the speed of light. After 10 seconds the second observer is 6 light seconds away from the other. At this time the first observer emits a beam of light in the direction of the second. Now if the light wave is traveling at the same speed relative to both of them, it should reach the second observer in just 6 seconds (he’s only 6 light seconds away). But after another 10 seconds, the second observer is now 12 light seconds from the first and the wave front is only 10 light seconds away. So either the wave front would have to travel faster than the speed of light (and have some strange properties of extending itself to reference frames) or it must not be traveling at the speed of light relative to the second observer. Has it ever been noted that during the Michelson-Morley experiment the air, in which they conducted the experiment moved with the Earth in orbit and rotation. Even if we were dragging through an ether, who’s to say that it permeates the Earth and the atmosphere or doesn’t at least change within it? Obviously it has been experimentally shown that light travels at a constant speed, but I fear we may be misinterpreting the results.
Thanks for reading.
Think inversely.