[Phys-L] Re: accelerating charge

[mungan at USNA.EDU (Carl Mungan)]

John Mallinckrodt replied to my message:

>  >I've somehow gotten my mind wrapped around a fence pole. I'll divide
> > the issue into two pieces. First part:
> >
> > Ann is in an inertial frame. Bob is in a rocket accelerating relative
> > to Ann. Bob is holding a plastic rod bearing a net positive charge.
> > Is the charge radiating? Bob says no; Ann says yes. Who's right and
> > why?
> >
> > Help me sort this out first, before I go on to the second part. Carl
>
> I know what the second part is and rather than venture my own
> speculations, you might want to take a look at
>
> <http://www.mathpages.com/home/kmath528/kmath528.htm>

WOW, Slo, that's eerie! I'm almost ready to believe in ESP. Dead on
target, I indeed was going to next invoke the equivalence principle
and have Bob be stationary in a gravitational field.

Sometimes, PHYS-L seems to bog down into uninteresting discussions.
But's it all worth it when something that exactly scratches where I
itch comes along.

That URL discusses lots of interesting stuff. Why haven't I ever
heard of all this? Is it discussed further in published work? (I'm
baffled as to who the author(s) of "mathpages" is. Can you enlighten
me further about this interesting set of webpages?) And just how did
you happen to have exactly the right URL at your fingertips?

My query came about because a student asked it in class and stopped
me in my tracks. I promised to research it. Score! Carl
--
Carl E. Mungan, Asst. Prof. of Physics  410-293-6680 (O) -3729 (F)
       U.S. Naval Academy, Stop 9C, Annapolis, MD 21402-5040
mailto:mungan@usna.edu       http://usna.edu/Users/physics/mungan/