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simple relativity question

Name: Anonymous 2006-08-09 21:45

two people are on a train, they will set their clock, on opposite ends of the train, to 12:00 when a flash is seen emitted from a bulb at the centre of the train, equidistant from each person. An observer watches from a platform, and says that the two events of setting the clock were NOT simultaneous while another observer says that they were. Since each viewpoint is equally valid, when the the people step off the train, what will their clocks actually read? is there a discrepancy or not?

Name: Anonymous 2006-08-15 23:30

>>10

Okay, I understand your argument now.  But I think that the end result should be the same.  A clock is any device or process that records the passage of time.  The two clocks are in the same reference frame.  In that reference frame, the two clocks are set at the same time.  The clocks then begin to record the passage of time, and since they remain in the same reference frame for the remainder of the experiment, they will read the same time after the experiment is over, regardless of what the stationary observer saw.

I just have no idea what happens from the point of view of the observer during the experiment.  At the end, both clocks should read the same.

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