To: Barry Goldwater; Physicist
Please cite the experiments showing that the Lorentz contraction can be measured. Physicist can handle this, I'm sure. But there are demonstrations of other phenomena that involve the Lorentz transformation. Time dilation, using a pair of atomic clocks; and mass increases, using accelerated particles. You're probably aware of those, as they're classics. As for length contractions, nothing rings a bell right now. But I'm betting on Physicist to come up with the answer.
To: PatrickHenry
Pat, this is an enjoyable discussion. Moving clocks do slow down (clock speed is also a function of gravitational potential), inertial mass does increase etc.
I'd like to see the case where Gauss's law is violated by the additional electric field of moving charge. The divergence of the additional E field of moving charge is always zero, so this shouldn't affect Gauss's law. I guess you could get it if you charged a capacitor that had only one plate.
I'd really like to see where the Lorentz contraction was measured. If it can be measured, one can go back and properly redo Michelson-Morley and measure the anisotropy of c.
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