FitzGerald-Lorentz contraction
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Related to FitzGerald-Lorentz contraction: Relativistic length contraction, Space contraction
FitzGerald-Lorentz contraction
The contraction of a moving body in the direction of its motion. In 1892 G. F. FitzGerald and H. A. Lorentz proposed independently that the failure of the Michelson-Morley experiment to detect an absolute motion of the Earth in space arose from a physical contraction of the interferometer in the direction of the Earth's motion. According to this hypothesis, as formulated more exactly by Albert Einstein in the special theory of relativity, a body in motion with speed v is contracted by a factor in the direction of motion, where c is the speed of light. See Light, Relativity
McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Physics. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
FitzGerald-Lorentz contraction
[fits¦jer·əld lə′rens kən‚trak·shən] (relativity)
The contraction of a moving body in the direction of its motion when its speed is comparable to the speed of light. Also known as Lorentz contraction; Lorentz-FitzGerald contraction.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.