Lorentz Contraction, Bell's Spaceships, and Rigid Body Motion in Special Relativity

I don't know if this manuscript has been published elsewhere, or if it has been submitted for publication. However, I found it a rather interesting reading. It explores certain "misconception" in Special Relativity, especially on the issue of "length contraction" that appears to be a standard part of physics education. Read it and see what you think.

I suppose this is another one that tries to correct certain popular misconception, or the use of inappropriate description, in SR. We already had papers dealing with issues of "relativistic mass" and why such a use is not accurate. It only serves to show the complexity in the trying to "visualize" the concept in something that has been developed for more than 100 years already, and a tribute to how revolutionary Relativity is.

Edit: This paper has now appeared in publication. Here is the complete reference:
J. Franklin, Eur. J. Phys. v.31, p.291 (2010).

Zz.