Is length contraction an optical illusion? Does object really shrink? Though measurements say yes, does it really happen? Or I have to say object is really measured to shrink?
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Or I have to say object is really measured to shrink?
That's the right answer.
Imagine a thought experiment. Let's say we are shooting another sequel of the Speed movie, 5 (I lost track :) ). So there is a bomb on the board of a spaceship, and a terrorist says you cannot slow down below the speed of 0.5c, because if a mechanism that involves a measuring stick shows the stick gets longer than a certain length, the bomb will explode.
So will the bomb blow off, if the spaceship does slow down below 0.5c?
Well, it depends ...
1) It will explode, if the measuring stick is located outside of the ship, in a reference frame from which the spaceship was measured to slow down below 0.5c.
2) But the bomb will never blow off, if the measuring stick is located on board of the spaceship. (Because locally length and time never change due to velocity, they are only measured to change from an outside frame of reference considered stationary.)
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