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In Bell's Spaceship Paradox, are there any direct observations that the stationary observer can make that would justify the breaking of the string without taking into consideration as to what's taking place in the frames of the ships?

In other words, can it observe any changes in the string's properties that would justify the break without having to switch or calculate in other frames?

If the string is replaced by a bar that can stretch a bit before it breaks, in the rocket's frame it would appear that the stripes become broader before the bar breaks. What would the stationary observer observe?

The bar

Alan Whitteaker
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2 Answers2

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The effect in Bell's rocket paradox is no different to length contraction, in the sense that it is a physical effect that arises from the nature of spacetime. You can't expect to explain it without taking SR into account. It is rather like looking for an explanation of the extended lifetime of moving muons without taking relativity into account. Yes, you might be able to come up with some ether theory in which the electrical forces holding together the molecules of the string are altered in some way by the movement of the string through the ether, but what's the point of going to all that trouble when SR tells you what is happening? You see the string break because it is being stretched in its rest frame.

Professor Sushing
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Are you asking how string changes in the rest frame of a still standing observer?

The non-tensioned length of the string gets smaller, that is what happens in the rest frame of a still standing observer.

Atoms of the string contract. A metal string gets thinner. According to a still standing observer.

stuffu
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