ELIF: how is time relative?

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ELIF: how is time relative?

In: Physics

30 Answers

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Think of a photon bouncing between two plates. An observer (observer 1) will measure the frequency as a value based on the speed of light. This photon is traveling the same path back and forth (Only movent along a y-axis). Now imagine a second observer (observer 2). One that observes the photon, plates and observer 1 moving as a system perpendicular to the movement of the photon bouncing back and forth. To observer 2 the photon is experiencing movement that lengthens the distance traveled between the two plates (movement in x-axis AND the y-axis). Since a photon can only trave at c, the frequency at which this observer measures the photon will be different AND slower than a photon he measures moving in a simple y-axis pattern within their own reference. Both observers measurements are accurate but different depending on the reference point.

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