Lazarus Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 When an object is moving space contracts in the direction of travel so light traveling in the same direction shows a constant speed.. What happens to the space contraction when the light is traveling in the opposite direction from the object? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 When an object is moving space contracts in the direction of travel so light traveling in the same direction shows a constant speed.. What happens to the space contraction when the light is traveling in the opposite direction from the object? Light speed is constant in all inertial frames. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazarus Posted June 6, 2016 Author Share Posted June 6, 2016 Light speed is constant in all inertial frames. It would appear that the contracted distance would make the measurement of light speed come out greater than c. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Endy0816 Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 (edited) I suspect need to consider time dilation. Distance:Time ratio is what remains constant. Edited June 6, 2016 by Endy0816 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazarus Posted June 6, 2016 Author Share Posted June 6, 2016 The confusion factor was the train explanation where the distance light travels is reduced by the contraction and the time remains the same. That doesn't seem to match the way Relativity handles it. Shrinking both distance and time will make it match. Please pardon the dumb question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 It would appear that the contracted distance would make the measurement of light speed come out greater than c. It would appear you have a misunderstanding of relativity. Light speed is the same in all inertial frames. If you get a different answer, you made a mistake somewhere. If you are in a spaceship and see a distant planet as being 4 light years away, owing to length contraction, while a (temporarily) co-located observer on a planet sees it as 5 light years away. The time tagged signal you receive at the point confirms it took 4 years to get to you. Light travels at c. Meanwhile, the planetary observer gets the same signal, and confirms that it took 5 years to get to her. Again, light travels at c. She concludes that your clock must be running slow relative to hers, just as relativity says. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mordred Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 What will change is the wavelength not the speed of light. In the case of a contracting universe you will have cosmological blueshift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 What will change is the wavelength not the speed of light. In the case of a contracting universe you will have cosmological blueshift. What do cosmological effect have to do with the OP? Let's not add to the confusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Endy0816 Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 Please pardon the dumb question. No such thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mordred Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 What do cosmological effect have to do with the OP? Let's not add to the confusion. Misread the OP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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