Relativity 1

Relativity 1#

Example 1: What’s Home and What’s Away#

The Question: Here are a handful of moving situations.

  1. Clarence is in a car and Maud is standing on the road watching him drive east past her.

    1. From Clarence’s point of view, who is in the Home frame and who is in the Away frame?

    2. From Maud’s point of view, who is in the Home frame and who is in the Away frame?

  2. Clarence is in a car traveling east and Maud is in a train traveling parallel to him going east, but faster.

    1. From Clarence’s point of view, who is in the Home frame and who is in the Away frame?

    2. From Maud’s point of view, who is in the Home frame and who is in the Away frame?

The Answer:

1a. Clarence sees Maud traveling west and so he says that she’s in the Away frame. He sees himself in the Home frame.

1b. Maud sees Clarence traveling east relative to her so he is in the A frame and she is in her H frame.

2a. Clarence is in his H frame and Maud is in the A frame.

2b. Maud is in her H frame and Clarence is in the A frame.

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