Program 17: SR Experiment with 4 trains

Introduction and Purpose

The purpose of the program SR.BAS is to answer the question if the length of two rods in any reference system is the same when the two rods move in opposite directions and their speed is the same. Accordingly to Special Relativity the answer on that Question is Yes.

To get a copy select: SR.BAS
To see the listing of the program select: SR.HTM


Program Operation

The program consists of three demonstrations and each demonstration consists of 6 steps.

In order to see the three demonstrations hit ENTER.


Program Description

L0 is the length of the train in the rest frame. L0 is 300000 km.
L1 is the length of the train with v to the right.
L2 is the length of the train with 2*v to the right.
dt is the time between each step in seconds. dt = 3
v is the speed to the right. v = 300000/dt = 100000. km/sec


Reflection

  1. What the demonstration clearly shows that in the track frame of train 1 the speed of the two trains 3 and 4 is different. What is more important that the length is different.
  2. What the demonstration IMO shows that in the track frame of train 2 the speed of train 3 and train 4 is the same (absolute). It also shows that the length of both trains are different. What is more important the length of train 4 is longer as the length of train 2.


Feedback

None


Created:26 January 2001

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