Lorentz transform consequence: everyone sees the same speed of light

OK, so let's verify the main desired consequence of the Lorentz transformation: that everyone observes the same speed of light.

Observers will measure the speed of light by calculating how long it takes the light going towards

+ x

cross a rod of length

L = x_{2} - x_{1}

laid in the x axis at position

X 1

TODO image.

Each observer will observe two events:

Supposing that the standing observer measures the speed of light as

c

and that light hits the left side of the rod at time

T 1

, then he observes the coordinates:

t_{1} x_{1} t_{2} x_{2} = T 1 = X 1 = \frac{L}{c} = X 1 + L

Now, if we transform for the moving observer:

t_{1}^{'} x_{1}^{'} t_{2}^{'} x_{2}^{'} = γ (t_{1} - \frac{v x _{1}}{c ^{2}}) = γ (x_{1} - v t_{1}) = γ (t_{2} - \frac{v x _{2}}{c ^{2}}) = γ (x_{2} - v t_{2})

and so the moving observer measures the speed of light as:

c^{'} = \frac{x _{2}^{'} - x _{1}^{'}}{t _{2}^{'} - t _{1}^{'}} = \frac{( x _{2} - v t _{2} ) - ( x _{1} - v t _{1} )}{( t _{2} - \frac{v x _{2}}{c ^{2}} ) - ( t _{1} - \frac{v x _{1}}{c ^{2}} )} = \frac{( x _{2} - x _{1} ) - v ( t _{2} - t _{1} )}{( t _{2} - t _{1} ) - \frac{v}{c ^{2}} ( x _{2} - x _{1} )} = \frac{\frac{x _{2} - x _{1}}{t _{2} - t _{1}} - v}{1 - \frac{v}{c ^{2}} \frac{x _{2} - x _{1}}{t _{2} - t _{1}}} = \frac{c - v}{1 - \frac{v}{c ^{2}} c} = \frac{c - v}{\frac{c - v}{c}} = c

 Ancestors (8)