Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Picking on Einstein
Physics.Org ^ | 01 April 2005 | Staff

Posted on 04/02/2005 7:01:14 PM PST by PatrickHenry

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-44 next last
Bold and underline fonts added by me.
1 posted on 04/02/2005 7:01:14 PM PST by PatrickHenry
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: VadeRetro; Junior; longshadow; RadioAstronomer; Doctor Stochastic; js1138; Shryke; RightWhale; ...
Science Ping! An elite subset of the Evolution list.
See list's description in my freeper homepage. Then FReepmail to be added/dropped.

2 posted on 04/02/2005 7:02:18 PM PST by PatrickHenry (<-- Click on my name. The List-O-Links for evolution threads is at my freeper homepage.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PatrickHenry
And his "teachers" called him "retarded".

I think he got the last laugh on them.

3 posted on 04/02/2005 7:08:39 PM PST by LibKill (Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PatrickHenry

bump


4 posted on 04/02/2005 7:12:50 PM PST by facedown (Armed in the Heartland)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PatrickHenry

I came up with this odd idea--

When mathematicians wanted to solve an impossible problem, they invented "i", such that: "an imaginary number is a real number times the positive square root of -1." The subsequent results yeilded amazing observations in many aspects of mathematics.

Why not do the same with physics? Just define a black-box figure (declare some "impossible" equivalence, perhaps?) and don't worry about how it works- just accept the result as true.

(The details of such a thing are well beyond my skills, which are presently stuck at undergraduate standards...)


5 posted on 04/02/2005 7:15:04 PM PST by SteveMcKing
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PatrickHenry
"Gyroscopes moving through curved spacetime will gradually change their direction of spin (i.e. tilt) with respect to the stars.

Why would a gyroscope change its direction of spin?

6 posted on 04/02/2005 7:15:32 PM PST by stripes1776
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: stripes1776

The spin would not change, only it's direction in relation to the stars.


7 posted on 04/02/2005 7:19:15 PM PST by TheLion
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: PatrickHenry

Now that is fascinating. And I will be nice.


8 posted on 04/02/2005 7:20:22 PM PST by Tench_Coxe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PatrickHenry

I still think Hawking was right. Einstein did not prove Newton wrong, he proved him incomplete. The next great breakthrough will not prove Einstein wrong, it will prove him incomplete. The next breakthrough will build on his work, not eradicate it.


9 posted on 04/02/2005 7:21:26 PM PST by Richard Kimball (It was a joke. You know, humor. Like the funny kind. Only different.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: stripes1776
Why would a gyroscope change its direction of spin?

It's a Democrat.

10 posted on 04/02/2005 7:22:38 PM PST by AndrewC (All these moments are tossed in lime, like trains in the rear.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: stripes1776

I wonder if any new object in space, little as it may be, such as us, causes a littler 'dimple' in the fabric creating a much smaller distortional vortex of spacetime.


11 posted on 04/02/2005 7:24:15 PM PST by Beowulf9
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: SteveMcKing
Why not do the same with physics? Just define a black-box figure (declare some "impossible" equivalence, perhaps?) and don't worry about how it works- just accept the result as true.

I was taught that the Universal Fudge Factor was the square root of 2. :-)

12 posted on 04/02/2005 7:24:46 PM PST by jennyp (WHAT I'M READING NOW: Mn17#mg 5gu2Ee 0%Ae by Howard & LeBlanc)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: TheLion
The spin would not change, only it's direction in relation to the stars.

Yes, I understand that the spin is not changing, only its direction, that is to say the k component of the vector perpendicular to the rotational motion. But what causes the direction to change?

13 posted on 04/02/2005 7:29:07 PM PST by stripes1776
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: SteveMcKing
Why not do the same with physics? Just define a black-box figure (declare some "impossible" equivalence, perhaps?) and don't worry about how it works- just accept the result as true.

That's essentially what Einstein did: he declared that the velocity of light was the same regardless of conditions and then jiggered the universe so it would be.

My problem is that I can't make the 'elevator experiment' work the way it seems to work for everybody else: I always come up with the notion that the scientists inside the elevator car would have no trouble at all distinguishing between acceleration due to changes in velocity and acceleration due to gravity.

14 posted on 04/02/2005 7:31:28 PM PST by Grut
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: AndrewC
It's a Democrat.

LOL. The best explanation I have heard so far.

15 posted on 04/02/2005 7:33:03 PM PST by stripes1776
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: PatrickHenry
If you want to watch a TV show (online) about Einstein and the birth of string theory, go to The Elegant Universe.

It's three hours, all online. I've been watching it with my homeschooled six-year old. (I have a hunch he understands more than I do :).

16 posted on 04/02/2005 7:33:35 PM PST by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: stripes1776

I think the direction would only change if space is curved and that is what any change will show. The direction of the gyroscopes doesn't change....only a change in direction relative to the stars, based on any curvature found.

Hope this makes some sense.


17 posted on 04/02/2005 7:37:50 PM PST by TheLion
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Beowulf9
I wonder if any new object in space, little as it may be, such as us, causes a littler 'dimple' in the fabric creating a much smaller distortional vortex of spacetime.

Interesting question. I do know that all mass has gravity. When we fall down we see and feel the effects of the gravity of the earth on us. But our gravity also pulls on the earth and the earth moves due to our gravity, although the movement is so small that it is neglibible.

So you may be onto something, althought the effect may be so small that it is also negligible.

18 posted on 04/02/2005 7:39:54 PM PST by stripes1776
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: TheLion
The direction of the gyroscopes doesn't change....only a change in direction relative to the stars, based on any curvature found. Hope this makes some sense.

How do you define your coordinate system to measure direction if space is changing.

19 posted on 04/02/2005 7:44:47 PM PST by stripes1776
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: AndrewC
Why would a gyroscope change its direction of spin?

It's a Democrat.

It's a Creationist, moving the goalposts one more time.

20 posted on 04/02/2005 7:54:44 PM PST by balrog666 (A myth by any other name is still inane.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-44 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson