In the original post, you say "The location of E1, in F and F', in this
case, is at the origins of each frame, at all times." This statement lacks
meaning. An event occurs at a particular place and time. You cannot ask
where an event occurs "at all times". Your first Lorentz transformation
correctly locates E1 at x'=0 and t'=0, given that it occurs at x=0 and t=0.
You cannot then locate E1 at x'=0 for all times, since an event occurs at a
definite time.
Michael Burns-Kaurin
Spelman College
David Rutherford
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Sent by: Forum Subject: Re: A Geometrical Proof of the Non-invariance of
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01/06/2003 05:02
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I think you have to do things differently in the case of moving
reference frames in spacetime. Observers in F and F' agreed on the
location of E1 at t = 0, since their measuring devices were
'synchronized' at that time, so I say that they must _always_ agree on
its location, in order to describe the same event. According to the
Lorentz transformations, they definitely don't agree on the location of
E1 at t = t. It's okay if they don't agree on the coordinates of E2, in
order to describe the same event, because their measuring devices are no
longer necessarily synchronized at E2.