Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-1-paper-of-the-university-of-oxford/2016-resit/11/b/solution
Past exam of the physics 1 paper of the University of Oxford 2016 resit 11 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
In the original rest frame each leg takes , so the round trip takes . For the moving frame, use the coordinate differences between the same three events. The Lorentz transformation givesThe outbound leg is shorter because the mirror approaches the outgoing ray; the inbound leg is longer because the source retreats from the returning ray. Their sum is larger than the original round-trip proper time by the time dilation factor .
These are coordinate times for return to the original source, not a claim that the pulse returns to the second observer's body at event . If that observer starts at , it intercepts the returning light at a different event, earlier than , at its own time . Distinguishing those events is necessary when interpreting “seen” or “return”.
New to topics? Read the docs here!