Talk:Length contraction

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[edit] LT given incorrectly?

Hm, looks to me as if the Lorentz transformation states x' = \gamma \cdot (x - vt) with \gamma = \frac{1}{\sqrt{1-\frac{v^2}{c^2}}}.

So setting t = 0 yields x' = \frac{x}{\sqrt{1-\frac{v^2}{c^2}}}, which would describe quite the opposite effect.

What's wrong?

You have to set t' = 0, not t.

The equation above is correct. The moving observer measures the length of a rod as the rest length l0 (all measuring rods are comtracted) so x^\prime = l_0. The rest frame measures the length of the rod x − vt as contracted. Hence x − vt < lo. Fot t = 0 and x < x^\prime.

[edit] New section

Was imported by me from Ehrenfest paradox during my second rewrite of that article. In that and other contexts (e.g. Thomas precession), two spatial dimensions are essential, hence discussion of E1,2 rather than E1,1.

I realize the present exposition has shortcomings and will eventually try to address these, e.g. by writing a background article explaining more fully the three trigonometries, their relation with Kleinian geometry and Cayley's projective metric.---CH 15:05, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Merge?

The articles called Lorentz-FitzGerald contraction hypothesis and Length contraction are both rather short and partly discuss the same subject. As the title "Length contraction" is a bit ambiguous, I propose to merge the articles into a new article called Lorentz contraction. Harald88 14:46, 11 July 2006 (UTC)


I second that motion, 14 Nov 2006

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