Wednesday, 28 January 2015

special relativity - How do I know which observer is running the time faster or slower?


Ok, I'm not a physicist, so I don't know if my question is silly (probably yes), but there is something in special relativity that I can't understand and I would really like it to be clarified.


If two observers are experiencing different velocities, then they will experience time differently. Ok. But, since there is no absolute referential, ever, how can I tell which one is moving "away" from the other in order to know which one is experiencing time faster than the other? I'll try to be more specific. Let's get the classic experiment of the light clock where a beam of light is moving up and down between two mirrors, and counting time at each passage. Now let's get an exact copy of that mirror and put it side by side with the first one. Now let's start moving the second clock horizontally to the right, away from the first one. In order for the speed of light to be the same to all observers, the moving light clock should experience time slower than an observer attached to the first clock. Ok, got it. Very logical. But here's my doubt: if the entire universe is composed of just these two watches, how can I tell that the second mirror is the one that is moving away from the first to the right, and not the first mirror that is moving away from the second to the left? It's impossible to tell. So, how can I know which one of the clocks is the one "moving away" in order to define which one is experiencing time dilation?


I know the answer must be silly because I simply can't find it. Any help?




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