A flat, horizontal pan of dough speeds under a circular cookie cutter at a veloc

Question

A flat, horizontal pan of dough speeds under a circular cookie cutter at a
velocity near c. A baker, holding the cutter perfectly horizontally, stamps the
dough with lightning speed. (Assume he raises the cutter again so quickly that
nothing gets squashed or stuck in the cutter.) The resulting cookie will not be
circular, but elliptical. (By the shape of a cookie, one means, of course, its
shape in its proper frame.) Is it longer in the direction of its motion or the
perpendicular direction? Justify this in the frame of the baker and in the frame
of the dough.

Explanation / Answer

In the direction of motion, due to the travel at near light speed, the cookie will appear smaller in the direction of motion. That means that the cookie will look longer in the direction perpendicular to the direction of motion.

The longer direction is it the direction perpendicular to the direction of motion.

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