I'm combining thoughts about a couple of recent postings.
* * * * Response to John M's Q4
I think the problem with "when Peter's clock has made one revolution" is not
so much a question of where the clock is, but a question of where the
observer is relative to this clock. By identifying Peter as the observer of
his clock we know the observer is in the immediate vicinity and in the same
frame as the clock being read. By making the statement "The place and time
where/when the second hand on Peter's watch *has* made one complete
revolution," it seems to me John is trying to pin down the same
information, but I do not think he has done so. I guess I still think the
observer has to be identified. I continue to believe Jane will record the
time/place when/where Peter's clock's minute hand made one revolution
differently than Peter will record this. This implies to me there is no
universally agreed time/place when/where Peter's clock has made one
revolution. We need the further stipulation of what frame this observation
is being made from.
* * * * Question for Michael Moloney and Geoff Nunes
Sam and Jane are in the same reference frame, but vastly different positions
in that frame. Please tell me how they synchronized their clocks.
* * * * Questions for all concerning the implication of Moloney's and Nunes'
comments.
Is this the way you understand it? That we need multiple observers in the
frame? Do you agree that Jane does not observe Peter's clock to hit one
minute when she observes it located at x = -6.19x10^8? If this is true, how
do you interpret the meaning of the Lorentz transformation? Isn't part of
the basis for the L-transformation the time it takes the light signal to
propagate to Jane? Please note that Jane and Sam, even though in the same
frame, do not use identical transformations. Jane enters x = 0 as her
position into her transformation. Sam enters x=-6.19x10^8 as his position
into his transformation. From the data they record, and the calculation
they make for what Peter records and each other record, it is clear to each
that they have all written down a different set of numbers.
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D. Phone/voice-mail: 419-358-3270
Professor of Chemistry & Physics FAX: 419-358-3323
Chairman, Science Department E-Mail edmiston@bluffton.edu
Bluffton College
280 West College Avenue
Bluffton, OH 45817