Special Theory of Relativity - Lecture-4

Special Theory of Relativity

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4. Length Contraction: Two dramatic results of the special theory of relativity are that a meter stick is shorter when moving than at rest and the moving clock runs slow. These results are quite real.            Consider a stick at rest in the  system lying along the  axis with its ends at and . The length of the stick is,                        is called the rest or proper length of the system. Now let us determine the length of the stick in  system, where the observer is at rest. According to the observer in the S system, the stick moves with velocity  towards right. The length of the stick is distance between its ends at the same instant of time. According to Lorentz transformation                        from (2) and (3),