I finally solved the paradox that split smart people 50/50! (It's wild)

To try everything Brilliant has to offer—free—for a full 30 days, visit https://brilliant.org/FloatHeadPhysics. You’ll also get 20% off an annual premium subscription. Support me   / floatheadphysics   to see how I learn relativity, get sneak peaks, and early video access. Two spaceships start accelerating at the same time and at the same rate, and they’re connected by a string. Will the string snap? This is one of the most confusing puzzles in relativity. A lot of physicists initially got it wrong, and even John Bell, who popularised the paradox, got the right answer for the wrong reasons. Most common explanations lean on length contraction. But length contraction is geometry. It’s not a physical squeezing force, so it can’t be the real cause of the stress. The real reason the string snaps has to do with acceleration, simultaneity, and the difference between what we measure in a frame and what is physically happening (proper distances). Let’s work through it carefully. Special thanks to ALL my new patreon members J. Sebastián Betancur, Ponya Lee, Aditya Potukuchi, Blake Emery, Ben Luo, Mihir Sakhadeo, Phantom Breeze, Rajat Mittal, Fabrice Braunrot, David Lee, ^^, Jian Guo, Rudy, John Leaf, and Jared Hodges John Bell's original proof https://danielhoek.com/wp-content/upl... This video is sponsored by Brilliant