Question

Mr. Engelsberg wishes to synchronize two identical clocks, named Big Ben and Little Ben, which are relatively at rest and separated by one million kilometers, which is 10^9 meters or approximatley three times the distance between Earth and Moon. He uses a third clock, identical in construction with the first two, that travels with constant velocity between them. As his moving clock passes Big Ben. When the moving clock passes Little Ben, that outpost clock is set to read the same time as the traveling clock.

b) "Now they are synchonrized!" is he right?

c) How much out of synch are Big Ben and Little Ben as measured by a latticework of clocks--at rest relative to them both---that has been synchronized in the conventional manner using light flashes? Evaluate this lack of synchronism in milliseconds when the traveling clock that Mr. Engelsberg uses moves at 360,000 kilometers/hour, or 10^5 meters/second

d) evaluate the lack of synchronism when the traveling clock moves 100 times as fast

Answer 1