Summary

SVG version of w:Image:Slabs.png. Original description follows:

This figure illustrates analogous situations in three-dimensional euclidean space E² (left) and three-dimensional Minkowski spacetime E^1,2 (right).

The figure at right shows the "world sheet" of a slab which is "boosted". The top and bottom surfaces are orthogonal in E^1,2 to the four sides of the world sheet. The figure shows that a cross section corresponding to a "space of simultaneity" is shorter in the direction of the boost. This is sometimes called Lorentz contraction, but the word "contraction" is in many ways misleading, as considering the euclidean analog suggests.

The figure at left shows the euclidean analog of this situation. The cross section of the rotated cuboid is longer in the direction of rotation.

This figure was created by User:Hillman using Xfig and exported as a png image.

original changelog: 17:15, 27 May 2006 . . Hillman (Talk | contribs) . . 462×282 (5,805 bytes) (This figure illustrates analogous situations in three-dimensional euclidean space E² (left) and three-dimensional Minkowski spacetime E^1,2 (right). The figure at right shows the "world sheet" of a slab which is "booste)

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