I have a question who is buging me, maybe I am missing something.

Relativity postulate that the speed of light is constant in all references frames.

For example an observer in a stationary spaceship (relative to earth) will mesure the speed of light to be c. When the spaceship move close to the speed of light (again relative to earth) the observer will mesure the speed of light to be c also.

Time is dilated so space must be contracted to mathematically explain the constancy of the speed of light.

Here is my bug: space is contracted in the direction of the motion, but not in the perpendicular direction of the motion. If the ship is travelling in the x direction the contraction is in the x direction and there is no contraction in the y and z direction. Time is dilated no matter the direction. So if I mesure the speed of light in the x direction I still have c, but in the y direction how can I still have c if there is no contraction in the y direction?

Thanks in advance to help clear that up.

Hi Jacques

 

Same questions are in my head for last 20 years. I find some answers.

Inertial system does not move in time, it move only into the space. Time is a stream of material change into space. The speed of time (material change) is slower in a faster inertial system than in a slower inertial system.

Space contraction is a pure math speculation.

 

see here my post "ATPS Theory", or see file attached.

 

yours, amrit

3. Mathematical Time and Physical Time - EJTP.pdf

Length is contracted only for objects that are moving. A measurement of c, in any given frame, is going to take place with objects fixed in that reference frame, so there is no contraction to consider. Contraction and dilation are only apparent to observers in another frame. If you actually diagram how you make the measurement it may be easier to see how there is no contradiction.

The conceptual problem with special relativity is connected to the contemporary perception of time as a referencing tool. If time is viewed as a potential, than the reference abstraction becomes more concrete. In the case of time potential, the velocity increases the time potential so that more time potential needs to be expressed making everything last longer.