[ExI] QT and SR

[Lee Corbin]

Jeff wrote (Sent: Monday, August 04, 2008 9:53 PM)

> On Thu, Jul 17, 2008 at 3:20 PM, Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com>
> 
>> Well, the solution is what has been pointed to in a number of web links.
>> Namely, to wit, viz., the strings do break.
> 
> The "solution" is wrong.  The strings do not break.

Bell, as you state, was indeed a very bright fellow, even better
at physics than most of the demi-gods at CERN. The a priori
odds of you being right and him being wrong (along with all
those web references) may be small, but we must never argue
from authority!

> There are two easy ways to see this.  First, If you were on board the
> space ships, in which frame of reference the laws of physics would
> operate in pedestrian fashion, where is there any reason for the
> strings to break?

Your "line of simultaneity" shifts as your velocity increases.
A cabin officer who slept through the takeoff would, looking
at the velocities of the other ships, calculate that they had
departed the vicinity of the Earth earlier than his own ship,
and that his ship had taken off before the ones behind him,
contrary to the admiralty's orders.

In fact, if the line of space ships was long enough, he'd be able
to calculate from certain observations that a number of them were
still on the runway "right now".

> Second, replace all that spaceship and string stuff with a long
> ruler with alternating sections marked "spaceship" and "string".

Very good approach, said Lee, trying hard not to be patronizing.

> Accelerate the ruler according to the same regime. Will the
> sections marked "string" break?

No. You're right about that!

> Will the ruler break anywhere?

No.  Also correct.  But equip the rear end of each portion of
those segments marked "spaceship" with their very own
hyper-powerful nucleonic tasmodic interrocitor (some, certainly
not you, probably think I'm making up that word) engines,
and the ruler does break.

In fact, I have long suspected *you* of being the author of

http://www.shipbrook.com/jeff/interocitor/

so your little "poor confused little me" trick isn't working.

"Jeff Lee" indeed.   Thanks, but no thanks.

Lee