Understanding Relativity: A Blind Man's Perspective on Time and Physics

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In summary, the clocks in a railway station are synchronized by seeing the clock but not hearing the clock. A similar clock is also synchronized by the station master by the same way (say yesterday when the train halted at the station). If a blind man is sitting inside the last compartment of the train, he can only hear the time. When the last compartment crosses the first clock, he can hear that clock and the clock inside the train is telling the same time, but the clock at the other end of the platform is telling a time in the past. However, when the blind man approaches the other clock, he can hear that clock is moving fast (telling the time faster) and finally when he reaches the other clock, he can hear the clock
  • #106
DaleSpam said:
You are really stretching here. No "reference object" is required. The light leaving one mirror is one event, the light reaching the other mirror is another event, the light travels a straight world line between the two events. No external reference object is required.

The distance between the two events is, in general, not d.
If i agree with your last statement,If the distance is not d,why should i say time is dilated,instead of saying the basic principle of measurement of time in the moving clock is wrong?
 
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  • #107
newTonn said:
If i agree with your last statement,
Do you agree with the last statement? I don't want to start a new discussion when we still disagree about the geometry. I already feel like we left the vacuum discussion prematurely.
 
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  • #108
newTonn said:
The diognal movement of light will be identified by the observer only if there is a reference object in the background,which is still in the observers frame.
In the absense of this third reference,the observer will see a perpendicular motion of light beam with respect to mirrors.
Are you completely unfamiliar with the notion of inertial coordinate systems in relativity? Each observer is assumed to use a network of rulers and clocks at rest in their own frame to assign coordinates to events, and it is only relative to these rulers and clocks that statements like "light moves at c in every frame" are meaningful.
 
  • #109
JesseM said:
Are you completely unfamiliar with the notion of inertial coordinate systems in relativity?
You have ignored part of my post where i stated"if the observer,measure the distance from him to the beam at each minute fraction of a second and plot the position of the beam,he will get a diognal line." to show that i am unfamiliar with the co-ordinate systems.
JesseM said:
Each observer is assumed to use a network of rulers and clocks at rest in their own frame to assign coordinates to events, and it is only relative to these rulers and clocks that statements like "light moves at c in every frame" are meaningful.
Does this directly implies that there is no physical change,but only the difference in rulers and clocks?
 

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