Concept explainers
To explain: The reason for not taking the bending into consideration by surveyors.
Explanation of Solution
Introduction:
According to principle of equivalence, the local observations that are made in an accelerated frame of reference, and the observations that are made in a Newtonian fluid cannot be distinguished. Also, the action of gravity should be attributed to the curvature of space-time.
Calculation:
Consider a light beam is thrown sideways in the “spaceship at rest position” and also assume that this occurs in the absence of gravity.
Consider two observers, one inside and another outside the spaceship.
Then the light beam will travel in a “straight line path” with respect to both the observer.
When the stationary spaceship starts accelerating, the floor overtakes the light beam and hits the wall just below from where the light is emitted.
The light beam will be in straight line to the “observer present outside the spaceship”.
The light beam will be a curved line to the “observer present inside the spaceship”. This bending of light is due to the effect of gravity.
The light does bend in a gravitational field, but in a small amount and it is negligible. So, the small amount of gravitational field is hard to notice. Thus, the gravitational field of light is small, and therefore it is not taken into consideration.
Chapter 16 Solutions
Conceptual Physics: The High School Physics Program
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