Re: Oh my God!

On 2024-09-26 12:44:21 +0000, gharnagel said:

On Wed, 25 Sep 2024 15:57:46 +0000, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:

 On 2024-09-25 15:34:35 +0000, gharnagel said:

 Actually, it might be correct.

 Yes, but it's still not something drawn by Minkovski.

  It wasn't drawn by Einstein or Poincare, either.  They're all
dead.  It is, however, a Minkowski diagram,

No one sai it wasn't, but "Dr" Hachel's question was "Did you see where Minkowski places his simultaneity plans?" clearly indicating that he thinks Minkovski drew it.

and the simultaneity
lines in the prime frame are defined by t = vx/c^2 + Constant
going and negative slope returning, exactly as Minkowski would
have drawn them.
 

Contrary to what Hachel wrote, there
is no "gap."  The presumption in the figure is that the velocities
going and returning are constant with an infinite deceleration at
the turning point.  Realistically, the deceleration would be finite.
Consequently, the simultaneous line would move smoothly from the
point intersecting the vertical line and the upper blue line to a
horizontal line between the turning point and the vertical line
(representing "home").  As the ship began its return journey, the
simultaneous line would move up to the lower red line as depicted.
The movement through the gap can be as swift as desired (a particle
in an accelerator encountering a target would have a very fast
deceleration, but still not infinite).

--
athel -- biochemist, not a physicist, but detector of crackpots