A ’’gedanken photograph’’ of a relativistic meter stick is analyzed at a level appropriate for undergraduate students. While an image of the correct Lorentz contracted length can be obtained, that image is distorted, since it does not represent all parts of the stick at one instant of time, but different parts of the stick at different times. Aspects of the photographic process are also analyzed in the frame of the moving meter stick.
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© 1980 American Association of Physics Teachers.
1980
American Association of Physics Teachers
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