Stationary/moving frames of reference in relativistic calculations. (1 Viewer)

[sinophile]

Doing the calculations in relativistic physics is no problem, once you determine which frame of reference is stationary and which is moving. However, how do you determine this? I often take this approach: see which observer is moving relative to the 'event'. but sometimes, the event is not clear. So how can i find the event? or is my approach wrong? can you suggest a beter approach?

 

[shady145]

i havnt come across this problem.
questions ive seen are normally like
an observer observes a space craft of 1/2 its rest length.
find the velocity blah blah blah
or
how long does it take a ship to get to a planet x lightyears away if travelling at 1500000m/s, and the length measureed from earth is 9999900000 light years.
not any confusing ones that ive seen

 

[darkchild69]

Doing the calculations in relativistic physics is no problem, once you determine which frame of reference is stationary and which is moving. However, how do you determine this? I often take this approach: see which observer is moving relative to the 'event'. but sometimes, the event is not clear. So how can i find the event? or is my approach wrong? can you suggest a beter approach?

Not sure i quite understand you question?

Why dont u give an example of what u think is tricky?

Ur approach seems correct, when talking about clocks and what not, the person who is in the same reference frame as the clock is the stationary observer, although really they are moving, which is tricky!

So, yeah, give an example or two and i'll try figure out what u talking about