4 ms·

Why would acceleration not be constant? (Assuming the ship isn't moving from the center of the earth outward or something like that.

• pdonis 6y ago
  > Why would acceleration not be constant? Look up the Bell Spaceship Paradox. In relativity, two spatially separated objects (or two ends of a spatially extended single object) that have the same proper acceleration in the same direction do not stay at rest relative to each other; they move apart, as seen in each of their own frames. This is different from the behavior predicted by Newtonian mechanics. In order to have the two objects (or two ends of a single extended object) remain at rest relative to each other, the one in front has to have a smaller proper acceleration than the one in back. (Rindler coordinates are often used to describe this case.)
  • rocho 6y ago
    This is crazy, I'm finding it very hard to get an intuitive understanding of this. I guess that's why it's called "paradox".
    • pdonis 6y ago
      > I'm finding it very hard to get an intuitive understanding of this. Yes, it is certainly not intuitive. That's why Bell took the time to write a paper about it years ago. This article might help: https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/what-is-the-bell-spaceship-paradox-and-how-is-it-resolved/ https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/what-is-the-bell-spac...