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Length contraction is the phenomenon that a moving object's length is measured to be shorter than its proper length, which is the length as measured in the object's own rest frame. [1] It is also known as Lorentz contraction or Lorentz–FitzGerald contraction (after Hendrik Lorentz and George Francis FitzGerald ) and is usually only noticeable ...
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.
However, they denied the idea that those stresses are caused by length contraction in S. This is because, in their opinion, length contraction has no "physical reality", but is merely the result of a Lorentz transformation, i.e. a rotation in four-dimensional space which by itself can never cause any stress at all. Thus the occurrence of such ...
Special relativity corrects the hitherto laws of mechanics to handle situations involving all motions and especially those at a speed close to that of light (known as relativistic velocities). Today, special relativity is proven to be the most accurate model of motion at any speed when gravitational and quantum effects are negligible.
Time dilation and length contraction. Length of the atmosphere: The contraction formula is given by = /, where L 0 is the proper length of the atmosphere and L its contracted length. As the atmosphere is at rest in S, we have γ=1 and its proper Length L 0 is measured.
The time it takes light to traverse back-and-forth along the Lorentz–contracted length of the longitudinal arm is given by: = + = / + / + = / = where T 1 is the travel time in direction of motion, T 2 in the opposite direction, v is the velocity component with respect to the luminiferous aether, c is the speed of light, and L L the length of the longitudinal interferometer arm.
1902 – Lord Rayleigh writes that Lorentz’s hypothesis of length contraction predicts a form of birefringence and tries to observe it. [14] The null result questions Lorentz’s model, but it would be later explained by a combination of length contraction and time dilation. 1902 – Max Abraham develops his classical model of the electron.
The absence of birefringence was initially interpreted by Brace as a refutation of length contraction. However, it was shown by Lorentz (1904) and Joseph Larmor (1904) that when the contraction hypothesis is maintained and the complete Lorentz transformation is employed ( i.e. including the time transformation), then the negative outcome can be ...