A new thought experiment on relativistic length contraction
Classical Physics
2021-11-02 v1
Abstract
Relativistic length contraction is revisited and a simple but new thought experiment is proposed in which an apparent asymmetric situation is developed between two different inertial frames regarding detection of light that comes from a chamber to an adjacent chamber through a movable slit. The proposed experiment does not involve gravity, rigidity or any other dynamical aspect apart from the kinematics of relative motion; neither does it involve any kind of non-uniformity in motion. The resolution of the seemingly paradoxical situation has finally been discussed.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2109.08719,
title = {A new thought experiment on relativistic length contraction},
author = {Biplab Raychaudhuri and Souvik Ghose and Arunabha Bhadra},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2109.08719},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
Pedagogical article, 8 pages, 2 figures, to be published in The Physics Educator