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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 2006-08-13 23:35

>>2

The clocks won't resychronize because they will decelerate at the same rate.  Nothing to make time pass differently for either clock.

>>1

As for the main problem, yes, both viewpoints are equally valid, but since the clocks were both in the same reference frame, they will both read the same once the train stops.  The observer can swear up and down that the light hit the clocks at different times, and he'll be right in his reference frame, but the clocks record time from the train reference frame, so they will show the same time.

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