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frame,1. If the flashes end up simultaneously at O in the train reference
speed vdo they end up simultaneously at O in all reference frames?
Yes. We can name the event "The two light flashes arrive at O"
without ambiguity. It specifies *a* time and *a* place. Other
observers may use different coordinates to specify *that* time and
*that* place, but they must necessarily agree that there is a
single event that is unambiguously named "The two light flashes
arrive at O".
2. If the speed of the flash pulse along the train is c in the train
reference frame, is the speed also c in a reference frame moving at
distancerelative to the train?
Yes. The speed of light is the same in all reference frames.
3. If the distance from O to the left-most point is the same as the
afrom O to the right-most point, is the ratio of the distances also 1 in
reference frame moving at speed v relative to the train?
Yes. Both contract by the same factor so the ratio remains one.
Can all three be true?
Evidently!
John Mallinckrodt mailto:ajm@csupomona.edu
Cal Poly Pomona http://www.csupomona.edu/~ajm