What is Lorentz contraction?
The '''Lorentz contraction''', also called '''Length contraction''', '''Fitzgerald contraction''' or '''Lorenz-Fitzgerald contraction''', is the [[phenomenon]] that a moving object becomes shorter than it was when measured in its [[rest frame]].<ref name=Dalarsson>{{cite book |title=Tensors, Relativity, and Cosmology |edition=2nd |first1=Mirjana |last1=Dalarsson |first2=Nils |last2=Dalarsson |publisher=Academic Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-12-803401-9 |page=106–108 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KZOZBgAAQBAJ}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=KZOZBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA106 Extract of page 106]</ref> This is because of [[special relativity|relativistic]] effects seen between observers moving toward or away from one another. The size of one object as seen by someone moving toward or away from it it is decreased along their line of movement by an amount mathematically related to their speed and the [[speed of light]]. In his book, ''One, Two, Three...Infinity,'' physicist [[George Gamow]] quoted a limerick (a kind of poem) that is said by some to have been changed from a more naughty poem. There are several other cleaned up versions: <blockquote> There once was a young man named Fisk,<br/> Whose [[wikt:fencing|fencing]] was extremely [[wikt:brisk|brisk]],<br/> So fast was his action,<br/> The Lorentz contraction,<br/> [[wikt:foreshorten|Foreshortened]] his [[wikt:foil|foil]] to a [[wikt:disk|disk]].<br/> </blockquote> ==References== {{reflist}} [[Category:Relativity]]