The Ladder Paradox is a famous thought experimentation that show you why you’re able to check objects into spaces that are too little for them . And also why you ca n’t , depending on your position .
relativity theory does a real number on our faith in reality . Although we can retrieve of reality as objective , there are some special cases that prove it ’s nothing of the kind . Different hoi polloi have their own reality , and these realities are , sometimes , ill-sorted . One particularly nagging trouble is known as the Ladder Paradox , or the Barn - Pole Paradox .
have ’s say you have a ravel and you have a service department . You ’ve never put the ravel in the garage because the run is too long . You ’d either have to launch the front door and let the end of the run string up out into your private road , or the back door , and have the other ending of the ladder spill out into your back thousand . One twenty-four hour period , your supporter Albert says that he can put your ravel inside your service department , albeit briefly . You see , as objects go up relativistic speeds , they undergo length contraction . So if you ’re pose in your garage , and Albert – who ’s an onetime guy rope but has a adept solidifying of legs – runs through , the run will appear to be short than it is when it ’s tolerate still . If you have a garage door opener that close both doors simultaneously ( and quickly ) , the ladder will suit inside .
https://gizmodo.com/how-einsteins-theory-of-relativity-makes-you-smaller-1220187429
You think about it , and decide that there ’s a problem . If Albert ’s running right alongside the ladder , from his full point of view , the ravel is n’t moving , but the garage is . Since the service department is proceed past him , it will be undergoing a length contraction , and be even shorter . The ladder wo n’t fit at all .
You settle to test it out . You ’ll baby-sit in the service department , and just as Albert runs through , you will shut both doors at the same time . Then you ’ll unfold them back up again at the same clock time , so Albert does n’t run into the door . This should allow you to see if the ravel fits . You go through the experiment and , amazingly , the ladder tally . When you satisfy up with Albert outside , he ask why you did n’t close both doors at the same time . You distinguish him that you did , and he allege you did n’t . You were right , he says , the garage was way too short . The only intellect why the run did n’t crash into the doors is they did n’t close at the same time . The doorway to the back chiliad closed first , as he was approaching it . The ladder attend out into the private road . Just as he was going to break apart into the back doorway , it open again . The run started moving out into the back yard , and just as it cleared the room access to the drive , that door closed and then open up again . At no point , tell Albert , was the ladder completely in the garage with both doors closed .
As it turns out , both of you had a wholly different experience , due to both length muscular contraction and comparative simultaneity . If you are endure equidistant from two light bulb join to the same switch , and someone flips that switch , you will see both scant bulbs exit on at the same clock time . Someone standing next to one clean bulb , and far from the other , will see the one near them derive on , and then , later , the other one come on . There ’s no way to say which one is first . Nothing travels quicker than light – not even door molecules . ( And they ’re fast . Who do you think coined the expression “ do n’t permit the door strike you on your way out ” ? Concerned physicists , that ’s who . ) Which means that both you and Albert were right . The doors did and did not close at the same time , and the ravel both did and did not fit in the service department .
My result ? Get a doggy doorway and let the ladder attend out of that . Problem solved . Why do you have to make everything so unmanageable ?
[ ViaHyperphysics , UNSW ]
PhysicsScience
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