Michael V wrote:Goldminer,
I am still pursuing a answer to the detailed nature of the propagation of light. I was hoping that you might be so kind as to further explain your point of view.
In this diagram a projectile (a dart/spear/arrow) is fired from the train. It has a velocity component from the firing mechanism and also has a velocity component from the motion of the train.
In the second diagram, a tiny "blip" of light is "fired". Previously you have suggested that the light will somehow receive a "direction" component from the motion of the train. I am assuming though that the total of its velocity components only ever sum to c.
It is my expectation that the laser light would travel straight from B to X and not from B to Y in the manner of a projectile. I am curious as to what theory or evidence convinces you of your assertion.
Michael V
Hummmm, that copy of your diagrams came out rather large, no?
Anyway my response went right by you, aye?
My statement:
Goldminer wrote:Your at rest with the tracks detectors will have to angle the face of their detectors towards where the source is at the time of detection, rather than where it was when the pulse was emitted.
is exactly opposite of what I meant. The aberration will cause the
at rest with the tracks observers (which are effectively moving in the opposite direction to the train's motion) to angle the face of their detectors towards where where the train's source was when the pulse was emitted, rather than where the source is at the time of detection.
IMHO, your point X should be fixed with the train rather than the tracks. Now, whether it be a projectile or laser pulse that is aimed at X, it will hit X when fired perpendicularly from the train. The position which X will occupy along the tracks when the projectile/laser pulse reaches X depends upon the speed of the projectile/laser pulse. The slower the speed, the further down the tracks your point Y will be. The emitter will always be directly across from the target. At no time will the projectile/laser pulse travel at an angle other that 90 degrees to the target at X.
There is no question whether the projectile's shadow over the ground (diagonally in the track frame) effectively "has to" travel faster than the actual projectile speed from B to X.
Einstein introduced the silly idea that somehow an additional laser pulse following a similar "over the ground path" exists for any relative observer speed, and that diagonal path speed must equal the same speed of light as the pulse traveling from from B to X is measured.
No one has ever explained how such a strange occurrence could happen. Everyone just believes it happens.
I sense a disturbance in the farce.