Quote:
Originally Posted by damian1727
yup as wierd as it seems..... known as
Lorentz transformation (?lör?ens ?tranzˇf?r?m?ˇsh?n)
(mathematics) Any linear transformation of euclidean four space which preserves the quadratic form q(x,y,z,t) = t2-x2-y2-z2.
(relativity) Any of the family of mathematical transformations used in the special theory of relativity to relate the space and time variables of different Lorentz frames.
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~...s/Lorentz.html
Lorentz is also famed for his work on the FitzGerald-Lorentz contraction, which is a contraction in the length of an object at relativistic speeds. Lorentz transformations, which he introduced in 1904, form the basis of Einstein's special theory of relativity. They describe the increase of mass, the shortening of length, and the time dilation of a body moving at speeds close to the velocity of light.
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as i understand it the spaceship gets shorter !! 
jets get a bit (tiny bit) shorter when going fast.. |
That's his biography, not the relevant math. Hang on, I'll look it up.
Ok. after plowing through the Wiki SR article, to the observer on the starship the distances to destinations appear to shrink, because the observer's clocks are running slow. It is as if the star in front of the ship, and the intervening space in front of the star (and the space behind the star), was all moving toward the ship at a high fraction of fthe speed of alight and was length contracted. Neat idea.