BIOL 112 Study Guide - Special Relativity, Lorentz Transformation, Length Contraction
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BIOL 112 Full Course Notes
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Document Summary
Until now, our discussion has been entirely quali- tative. We have described an important physical effect, the length contraction, and shown how it arises from the fundamental postulates. We have to know by how much the length is predicted to contract, in order to be able to compare this theoretical prediction with experiment. The first step is to find the mathematical form of the lorentz transformation. Well, for any point in space and time, we can either label that point with the coordinates x and ct or with the coordinates x and ct . We would like to know how to calculate x and ct given x and ct , and vice versa. Let"s suppose that the second observer"s measuring rod moves with velocity v, and that the zeros of the two measuring rods coincide at time zero. Here"s a picture of the measuring rods at some later time: x .
