Tuesday 1 December 2015

special relativity - Why does photon have to travel in sideways to hit the light clock?


From this article,



Let’s say Alice is holding a light clock, and Bob is watching her run by, while holding it, with speed V. Alice is standing still (according to Alice), and the time,$ \tau$, between ticks is easy to figure out: it’s just $\tau = \frac{d}{C}$. From Bob’s perspective the photon in the clock doesn’t just travel up and down, it must also travel sideways, to keep up with Alice. The additional sideways motion means that the photon has to cover a greater distance, and since it travels at a fixed speed (EEP y’all!) it must take more time



My question is, why does photon need to travel sideways to hit the Alice light clock?




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