UCSB Science Line
Sponge Spicules Nerve Cells Galaxy Abalone Shell Nickel Succinate X-ray Lens Lupine
UCSB Science Line
Home
How it Works
Ask a Question
Search Topics
Webcasts
Our Scientists
Science Links
Contact Information
Hi! Do "light clocks" (the things that bounce a particle of light between two or more mirrors - has to do with relativity) really exist? Would it be possible to make a "light clock"? Thank you for your help!
Question Date: 2010-04-16
Answer 1:

Not sure - I'm doing some leg work on the internet looking, but the sources I'm finding aren't something I necessarily would trust.

Radar of course uses the same principle to measure the distance to a target. If the distance to the target were known, then you could use your radar essentially as a clock: the time it takes to emit a radar pulse and then for it to return could be calibrated based on the known distance and speed of light. However, you would not be able to make a time dilation-immune clock this way on a relativistic space ship because the space ship would experience Lorentz Contraction, which would change the distance between the radar emitter and the target, so they aren't known anymore.



Click Here to return to the search form.

University of California, Santa Barbara Materials Research Laboratory National Science Foundation
This program is co-sponsored by the National Science Foundation and UCSB School-University Partnerships
Copyright © 2020 The Regents of the University of California,
All Rights Reserved.
UCSB Terms of Use