Statements of fact

[sendconroymail]

The physics taught in High School and the first few years of college are wrong, they are only Approximations.

[SparrowHawk60]

You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish.
You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your friends nose.

[qbee42]

Originally Posted by sendconroymail

Actually you don't get shorter the things around you get shorter.

Depends on who's watching whom.

Tom

[sendconroymail]

Originally Posted by qbee42

Depends on who's watching whom.
Tom

The original quote said "The faster you go, the shorter you get. A. Einstein"

And I said YOU don't get shorter which is correct. If you want to be technical....
you dont get shorter, but everything around you does.
you dont gain mass, but someone watching you sees your mass increase.
time does not slow down for you, but for everyone around you time slows down.

We talking from the person's perspective who's velocity or gravitational pull increases.

[qbee42]

Originally Posted by sendconroymail

The original quote said "The faster you go, the shorter you get. A. Einstein"

And I said YOU don't get shorter which is correct. If you want to be technical....
you dont get shorter, but everything around you does.
you dont gain mass, but someone watching you sees your mass increase.
time does not slow down for you, but for everyone around you time slows down.

We talking from the person's perspective who's velocity or gravitational pull increases.

You are inferring information not in the original statement. There is no reference to the observer, or to the subjects orientation. If the subject is coming toward the observer head on (or feet on), the subject gets shorter.

Tom

[sendconroymail]

Originally Posted by qbee42

You are inferring information not in the original statement. There is no reference to the observer, or to the subjects orientation. If the subject is coming toward the observer head on (or feet on), the subject gets shorter.
Tom

Ohh god again? The original statement said "The faster you go, the shorter you get". The key word being "you".

[qbee42]

Originally Posted by sendconroymail

Ohh god again? The original statement said "The faster you go, the shorter you get". The key word being "you".

Right, if I watch you go faster, you get shorter. The statement does not specify an observer. That is the whole point to the term relativity; the physical results very relative to the observer. If you go faster and you watch yourself, nothing changes. There is no way to determine the observer from the given information, making both statements equally acceptable.

Tom

[Proco]

qbee42 and sendconroymail have hijacked this thread for an argument about something Einstein said.

[qbee42]

Originally Posted by Proco

qbee42 and sendconroymail have hijacked this thread for an argument about something Einstein said.

Yes, and I'm sorry for that. It has devolved into a petty dispute over semantics. I'll stop so we can get back on topic. <qbee42 stains while trying to think of another witty statement; ah, got one!>

Groucho Marx: "As soon as I get on my horse I'll be off, which is a heck of a way to ride a horse."

Tom

[hyo silver]

There's an exception to every rule, including the rule about there always being exceptions.