2018American Journal of PhysicsRequires access

Comoving frames and the Lorentz–Fitzgerald contraction

Alon Drory

Open publisher page 5 citations

Abstract

In special relativity, accelerated objects are described through instantaneous comoving frames, to which the usual transformations are then applied. This is not always possible, however. I analyze a simple example of a rod thrown from a train onto a stationary platform. The lack of absolute simultaneity implies that the rod stretches, and its points move with respect to each other. Its length, therefore, changes. Typically, the rod as a whole has no instantaneous rest length and thus no definable proper length. A fortiori, it has no instantaneous rest frame, and the (instantaneous) Lorentz contraction formula is inapplicable.

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In special relativity, accelerated objects are described through instantaneous comoving frames, to which the usual transformations are then applied. This is not always possible, however. I analyze a simple example of a rod thrown from a train onto a stationary platform. The lack of absolute simultaneity implies that the rod stretches, and its points move with respect to each other. Its length, therefore, changes. Typically, the rod as a whole has no instantaneous rest length and thus no definable proper length. A fortiori, it has no instantaneous rest frame, and the (instantaneous) Lorentz contraction formula is inapplicable.

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Available abstract

In special relativity, accelerated objects are described through instantaneous comoving frames, to which the usual transformations are then applied. This is not always possible, however. I analyze a simple example of a rod thrown from a train onto a stationary platform. The lack of absolute simultaneity implies that the rod stretches, and its points move with respect to each other. Its length, therefore, changes. Typically, the rod as a whole has no instantaneous rest length and thus no definable proper length. A fortiori, it has no instantaneous rest frame, and the (instantaneous) Lorentz contraction formula is inapplicable.

Key concepts: Length contraction, Physics, Rest frame, Lorentz transformation, Rest (music), Contraction (grammar), Special relativity, Classical mechanics

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