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Proper length [1] or rest length [2] is the length of an object in the object's rest frame. The measurement of lengths is more complicated in the theory of relativity than in classical mechanics . In classical mechanics, lengths are measured based on the assumption that the locations of all points involved are measured simultaneously.
An observer at rest observing an object travelling very close to the speed of light would observe the length of the object in the direction of motion as very near zero. Then, at a speed of 13 400 000 m/s (30 million mph, 0.0447 c ) contracted length is 99.9% of the length at rest; at a speed of 42 300 000 m/s (95 million mph, 0.141 c ), the ...
Fig 4-4 Relativistic length contraction, as depicted in a single Loedel spacetime diagram. Both observers consider objects moving with the other observer as being shorter. Relativistic length contraction refers to the fact that a ruler (indicating its proper length in its rest frame) that moves relative to an observer is observed to contract ...
The proper length of an object is the length of the object in the frame in which the object is at rest. Also, this contraction only affects the dimensions of the object which are parallel to the relative velocity between the object and observer. Thus, lengths perpendicular to the direction of motion are unaffected by length contraction.
In the following, the rest length [3] or proper length [4] of an object is its length measured in the object's rest frame. (This length corresponds to the proper distance between two events in the special case, when these events are measured simultaneously at the endpoints in the object's rest frame. [4])
The diagram is in the rest frame of the garage. The vertical light-blue band shows the garage in spacetime, and the light-red band shows the ladder in spacetime. The x and t axes are the garage space and time axes, respectively, and x ′ and t ′ are the ladder space and time axes, respectively.
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The arclength parameter is called proper time and usually denoted τ. The length of M is called the proper time of the particle. If the worldline M is a line segment, then the particle is said to be in free fall. [1]: 62–63 A world line traces out the path of a single point in spacetime.