To bring his process to life, National Geographic created an interactive version of one of Einstein's most famous thought experiments: a parable about lightning strikes as seen from a moving. Experiment 4. Your perception of time depends on how you are moving. 3,740 1,690. This is a cornerstone in Einstein's special theory of relativity. Insights Blog . In developing special relativity, Einstein began by accepting what experiment and his own thinking showed to be the true behaviour of light, even when this contradicted classical physics or the usual perceptions about the world. Albert Einstein was neither the first nor the last to use thought experiments in his research. Experiment 6. So how could one thought change the w. Here are a set of thought experiments that help to explain Special Relativity. Einstein famously called this thought. Publish Date: 5/29/18 Topic: Physics + Math. This is the simplified logic of Einstein . By Arlo Perez. Staff Emeritus. The thought experiment of Einstein's train The thought experiment of Einstein's train <UP to now our considerations have been referred to a particular body of reference, which we have styled a "railway embankment." We suppose a very long train travelling along the rails with the constant velocity v and in the direction indicated in Fig. Measuring Light From a Moving Train If two beams were emitted from a moving train, the person on the train would see both beams be emitted at the same time. Experiment 1. Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity explained by Gedanken (Thought) Experiments. Also, as @benrg points out, the author implicitly assumes from the outset that the emissions of the two beams were simultaneous on both the train and the platform, which is directly incompatible with the theory he thinks he is illustrating. In both cases of Einstein's thought experiment (Accelerating room and the room "resting" on the ground) a Secondary Force is creating the effect of weight. This thought experiment showed that time moves differently for someone moving than for someone standing still, cementing Einstein's belief that time and space are relative and simultaneity doesn't exist. Apparently the philosopher complicated Einstein's train thought experiment by adding a racecar, and found contradictions which prove special relativity is inconsistent. While one might reasonably argue that there were. Einstein's thought experiments A hallmark of Albert Einstein 's career was his use of visualized thought experiments ( German: Gedankenexperiment [1]) as a fundamental tool for understanding physical issues and for elucidating his concepts to others. All the equivalence principle tells us, is that this situation is equivalent to an elevator standing still on the surface of the Earth. Einstein used the theory of Galileo as the basis of his imagination of himself as travelling at the speed of light (C). 1. Albert Einstein - Genius: Imagine A Train Experiment 2. Yes . Einstein's lightening-hit-train thought experiment. This thought experiment showed that time moves differently for someone moving than for someone standing still, cementing Einstein's belief that time and space are relative and simultaneity. TL;DR Summary. Simple, easy exercise. Imagine you have a twin in a rocket ship. Einstein conducted a couple of thoughts experiment which led to the principles of relativity. Einstein's thought experiments took diverse forms. 2022 - info@aatventure.news Einstein's Train Thought-Experiment, Fast Neutrinos (and One-Way Measurements of the Speed of Light) Posted on October 10, 2011by Tim Joslin My previous, somewhat rambling, postattempted to explain the recent experimental observation of neutrinos apparently travelling faster than light. Imagine you have a twin in a rocket ship. Can you explain Einstein's train metaphor/thought experiment. Mar 16, 2012 #3 markf. Answers and Replies Mar 16, 2012 #2 Janus. It's really simple: if the elevator accelerated at 1g, while in zero gravity, light would stay put, looking for the people in the elevator as if it was accelerated downwards at 1g. For the thought experiment, Einstein calculates a round trip time for a pulse of light from inception to reflection back to the inception point as measured in a moving frame. Of course, as Einstein was happy to admit, the only real way to test a theory is by carrying out experiments in reality. the normal procedure in the presentation is to (1) go through the exercise of synchronizing first the station clocks and then the moving train clocks, (2) perform some simple measurements in both the moving and stationary reference frames, (3) discover that the measurements in the two reference frames do not agree and hence violate one or both of The mind - Einstein's . then it is not accessible by SR. In Einstein's version the onboard observer sees the flash from the forward strike first because while the light from the strike was propagating he and the train moved forward toward the location of the source of the flash. The fact that the speed of light is the same for all observers is inexplicable in . This is a cornerstone in Einstein's special theory of relativity. The relativistic time dilatation effect and Einstein's second postulate of special relativity are used to analyse train/embankment thought expriments, both Einstein's original one, and an. I don't know if he was trying to oversimplify or if an editor or translator messed it up, but the explanation violates the principles of special relativity. However, most likely scenario is that the "racecar on a train" is too complicated for goatee man to find correct conclusions. Einstein's Train Thought Experiment Einstein's version of the experiment presumed slightly different conditions, where a train moving past the standing observer is struck by two bolts of lightning simultaneously, but at different positions along the axis of train movement (back and front of the traincar). He is discussing the propagation of the lightning bolts under the assumption that in both the embankment frame and in the train frame the bolts must be observed to propagate at the speed of light, regardless of the relative velocities of the sources that emitted them wrt the . Experiment 3. Einstein's Special Relativity Explained Simply - No Math. A thought experiment is an experiment which is imagined. Introduction. Answer (1 of 3): Actually, no, at least not as it is explained in the English translation of Einstein's book, Relativity. . Can you explain Einstein's train metaphor/thought experiment. This theory said that all steady motion is relevant and cannot be detected without reference to an outside point. [14] [12] It also consists of one observer midway inside a speeding traincar and another observer standing on a platform as the train moves past. In a thought experiment, Einstein was trying to chase a light beam, and he found out a solution, he solved the conundrum by definition, claiming the speed of light must be a constant in every reference frame. In an attempt to explain why this must be so, Einstein used a thought experiment of a train with length L which moves past a platform of a station when lightning simultaneously strikes. Einstein's version of the experiment presumed that one observer was sitting midway inside a speeding traincar and another was standing on a platform as the train moved past. These experiments are often called "thought experiments". The purpose in examining Einstein's Train Thought Experiment is to point out fallacies in Einstein's logic. The round trip time is given as T = ( 2 D / c) / 1 ( v / c) 2, where D is the distance from the inception point to a mirror moving in the same frame. I really love this train experiment. Thanks . A popular picture for understanding this idea is provided by a thought experiment similar to those suggested by Daniel Frost Comstock in 1910 [13] and Einstein in 1917. Einstein recalled how, at the age of 16, he imagined chasing after a beam of light and that the thought experiment had played a memorable role in his development of special relativity. This has Lorentz explained to Einstein in 1916, and Einstein has conceded it without taking . In this publication the core information about Einstein's flawed relativity of simultaneity thought experiment paradigm was specifically extracted from section 12.6 in the extended publication (1). 1) The speed of light (in a vacuum etc) is constant in all reference frames 2) Simultaneity is relative So yes c is the same on the platform and on the train and everywhere else but may be experienced differently (through time) in different reference frames. Abstract: Einstein's "Gedanken" experiments (thought experiments) - particularly his train-embankment thought experiments - were apparently intended to explain Special Relativity logically and in layman's terms, but they were written in an incredibly convoluted way, which seems to have resulted in them being misinterpreted by many physicists. Gravity is exerting exactly the same amount of force on each atomic particle of the body, simultaneously . Abstract: Einstein's "Gedanken" experiments (thought experiments) - particularly his train-embankment thought experiments - were apparently intended to explain Special Relativity logically and in layman's terms, but they were written in an incredibly convoluted way, which seems to have resulted in them being misinterpreted by many physicists. This thought experiment led to Einstein's so-called "equivalence principle," which states that the effects of gravity and acceleration are the same. Einstein's Thought Experiment. It shows Einstein's genius. 5 0. However, the germ of any physical experiment must start in the mind, and this page looks at one of the best examples of a such a thought experiment; that of the theoretical light clock. In his youth, he mentally chased beams of light. It is not part of Einstein's original 1905 paper where relativity of simultaneity is explained mathematically (which I treat here ). It may seem like this is a relatively simple , visual thought experiment, and that therefore there cannot be multiple interpretations of the thought experiment. Your perception of time depends on how . Thanks. In 1895, a 16-year-old boy imagined himself chasing a beam of light. In the third paper you cite, the author utterly misunderstands the point of Einstein's thought experiment. Famous as it is, it has proven difficult to understand just how the thought experiment delivers its results. Experiment 5. invariance of the speed of light. Are you referring his thought experiment dealing with the Relativity of Simultaneity? Gold Member. Hence Einstein is endeavoring to show that accepting the light postulate necessarily implies relativity of simultaneity. When a Primary Force such as Gravity is exerted on a body alone, (falling body) the body accelerates but the body is weightless! Science Advisor. 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