Physics of fightighting a traffic ticket - and pit falls in that
A physicist produced a technical paper to show that a an optical illusion can cause a traffic inspetor to think that a car was moving, though it had actually stopped on the red light. The $400 fine imposed was dismissed by the judge.
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Contrast this with another physicist, who tried a similar stunt. He passed a red light without stopping. To the questioning judge, the professor explained that it was due to relativistic motion. Since he was moving towards the red light it suffered a frequency shift and appeared green. The judge accepted the explanation and waived charges. As the smirking physicist was leaving the stand, the judge recalled him. 'While you are absolved of the original charge of not stopping at the red light, the speed at which you were going to make red appear green should have been about 6000 km/sec, which is astronomically above the speed limit of 60 km/hr on that road. So you are being held for speeding'.
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Contrast this with another physicist, who tried a similar stunt. He passed a red light without stopping. To the questioning judge, the professor explained that it was due to relativistic motion. Since he was moving towards the red light it suffered a frequency shift and appeared green. The judge accepted the explanation and waived charges. As the smirking physicist was leaving the stand, the judge recalled him. 'While you are absolved of the original charge of not stopping at the red light, the speed at which you were going to make red appear green should have been about 6000 km/sec, which is astronomically above the speed limit of 60 km/hr on that road. So you are being held for speeding'.
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