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mantus, here's an ez explanation:
if you take it for granted that light travels at a constant speed no matter your reference point, then consider a John Glenn a very fast train and Jesse Helms watching from the train station. John glenn has on his rocket a neat little device--it's two mirrors facing each other at a distance, and in between is a pulse of light bouncing back and forth between them:
----- mirror
^
* --pulse of right
*
------ other mirror
The distance between the two mirrors is L, so that in L/c seconds, john glenn will see the pulse of light go back and forth 1 time.
Now if you're jesse helms watching this same contraption through the train window as it whizzes by, the path light takes looks like this:
--------- ----------
* *
* *
* *
*
---------
the light looks like it's travelling a longer distance, yet it also looks like it's still travelling at speed c! Therefore in L/c seconds, it will not complete a single back-and-forth. time appears to move slower in the fast-moving rocket ship.
Now if you turn the whole contraption 90 degrees, you can see that fast-moving objects appear to be squashed. I leave that one for you to figure out.
EDIT: that second picture messed up--i can't figure out how to get it to draw!! anyways, i mean for the astericks to go in a diagonal path down-right, and then a diagonal path back up-right.
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oh baby oh baby, i like gravy.
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