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Question in understanding the special theory of relativity

שו”תCategory: philosophyQuestion in understanding the special theory of relativity
asked 7 years ago

Hello Rabbi Michael,
I’m reading your book Freedom Comes and on page 145 you talk about Einstein’s special theory of relativity and I just can’t understand.
The example is that a train traveling at the speed of light and sending a beam of light upward at the speed of light at point A will arrive at point B at the same time, from the perspective of the person sitting in the train, if there is a mirror, etc. A few questions:
1. You wrote that Einstein and his friends claim that the speed of light maintains a constant speed of light – what causes it to move diagonally if so? Doesn’t there need to be a force exerted on the light to cause it to move diagonally?
2. Even if a force is applied, and for some reason the light maintains the speed of light even though there should have been acceleration here, how is it logically possible that they arrive at the same time? After all, the light traveled a greater distance?
3. And if it is a fact that this is how it is, how did Einstein arrive at this in thought? What logical operation is there here? Is there thinking against logic here, and what then is the thought experiment here? If he had empirical information that this is how it happens, I do not understand the greatness of the thought experiment

thanks,


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0 Answers
מיכי Staff answered 7 years ago
Hello. 1. The magnitude is constant but the direction is not (speed, not velocity). If you give light an initial velocity with two components, it moves diagonally. You don’t need a force, just give it an initial velocity. Light has no mass. 2. In a wave, time flows faster (this is exactly what I showed there). If time flows faster, then a greater distance can be covered “in the same amount of time.” 3. He postulated the principle of the constancy of the speed of light (I don’t remember right now whether this is an explanation or if he had some empirical data). From here we can continue with just a thought. The great thing is that from the constancy of the speed of light he deduced the change in time and lengths between systems at different speeds.

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א' replied 7 years ago

Thank you Rabbi.
Did you mean that for the passenger in the carriage time passes more slowly (not faster as you wrote)? That is, that he has “more time” in both cases to travel a greater distance?

מיכי Staff replied 7 years ago

Indeed, time flows faster in the beam system and slower in the wagon system.

צבי replied 5 years ago

Can I ask a question about the thought experiment regarding the moving train and 2 lightning bolts striking the ends of the train?

מיכי Staff replied 5 years ago

You can try.

f replied 5 years ago

witty

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