"jeckyl" :
"Peri of Pera" :
The Measurement of Contraction

The theory of relativity is presented as one that cannot be understood
by most people.

Not 'cannot', just 'is difficult'

Restricting oneself to the usual algebraic axiomatics and the establishment
of Lorentz transforms, I had the opposite problem: it seemed too simple, yet
it evaded our intuition...

This aura of complexity and difficulty is maintained
by using ambiguity and vagueness in describing and defining the theory

No .. the theory is very clear and precise .. however, some popularisation
of it are vague and ambiguous, because they use colloquial terms that the
layman is more familiar with, and those terms are vague and ambiguous.

and defending it with even more ambiguity and vagueness against logic.

There is nothing illogical about SR

.... so I once decided to have a go at a truly intuitive approach of its
axiomatics. In my case (and I take it, in many people's that would mean:
geometry and graphic rendering.

But what is it really? Stripped of all esoteric language it simply
means that physical objects (we may call them frames) that are capable
of motion (cars, trains, planes, the earth, planets, stars) will
shrink along the axis parallel to the motion and have their clocks
slow down.

No .. nothing happens to the object .. it can't do. Someone moving
quickly
past you does not change you. But something happens to how they are
measured by things that move relative to them

The effects are in proportion to the velocity of the object

No .. they are not in propoertion at all.

and are called length contraction and time dilation.

You missed relativity or simultaneity .. so many people do, yet it is
probably the most important effect

Agreed. A result of an "isotropy of = equality of light clocks" axiom (*),
easily taken for granted in a rest frame, but a real hypothesis when
realising that there is no such thing as an all round rest frame...
(*) actually my axiom 4 in the page below, under "MySRT".
See also axiom 5 and comments following:
"
Axiom 4, put to comparison between different inertial systems, yields
differential simultaneity.

Axioms 4 and 5 yield length contraction and time dilation.

Another result is the constancy of light speed, as a common feature of all
light clocks, their isotropy meaning same light time for same distance, but
being aware of what 'distance' means in different systems.



Actually, understanding the properties of light clocks, and their role as
basic gauge tools for measuring length and time in any system, with any
ruler and clock equipment, is my cornerstone for an intuitive and
geometrical understanding of SRT. The Michelson-Morley experiment may with
hindsight be re-interpreted as an attempt to prove light clocks not being
true (isotropic) clocks !

"

SRT made easy, intuitive, geometrically and logically satisfactory:
http://home.scarlet.be/~pin12499/paratwin.htm
SRT in my QBasic pages with some graphic examples:
http://home.scarlet.be/~pin12499/qbRelaty.html

guido