Is Detection of Fitzgerald-Lorentz Contraction Possible?

Details Is Detection of Fitzgerald-Lorentz Contraction Possible? Is Detection of Fitzgerald-Lorentz Contraction Possible?

2008-08-07

arxiv.org/abs/0808.1117v1

Physics

General Physics

14 pages, 8 figures

Scientific paper

Visual perception of Fitzgerald-Lorentz contraction is known to be theoretically impossible, and this can be demonstrated pedagogically with the aid of simple spacetime diagrams of one spatial dimension. Such diagrams also demonstrate, simply and directly, that the apparent length of a moving meter stick changes as it passes by and can even look elongated. In addition, measurement of a moving meter stick with instruments, as opposed to visual perception, must be inherently ambiguous, as the length measured depends on clock synchronization, which is widely considered to be conventional. In fact, for some synchronization choices, a moving meter stick would be measured as greater than one meter. Thus, the well known Fitzgerald-Lorentz contraction factor $\sqrt {1-v^2/c^2} $ would generally not be seen visually, and would only be measured in a system employing one particular (Einstein) synchronization convention.

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