Picking on Einstein

Physics.Org ^ | 01 April 2005 | Staff

[TheLion]

The probe is aligned with a star. Any change in the direction of the star in relation to the gyroscopes will be relavistic....caused by bending or curvature of space around the earth.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Why is space not simply the absence of anything else and all of the attributes we assign to space simply other forces acting upon each other?

[stripes1776]

Any change in the direction of the star in relation to the gyroscopes will be relavistic....caused by bending or curvature of space around the earth.

Is the change in the direction of the star, relative to the gyroscope, due to the bending of the light coming from the star, i.e. the light bends according to the curvature of space?

[longshadow]

>But what causes the direction to change?<

See:

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/F/Fr/Frame-dragging.htm

Google "relativistic frame dragging" or "Lense-Thirring effect" for more details.....

[djf]

"Einstein did not prove Newton wrong, he proved him incomplete."

Agreed. If Newtons work had even the tiniest allowance for Lorentz contraction, it would have been complete.


The problem is still Bell's work. He basically proved that there was no hidden variable theory that would reconcile relativity and QM, which was one of the premises of Einstein's EPR work.

And Bell's work seems to start to hint at some sort of universal something, the fact that effects can exceed the speed of light points at a non-relativistic view, a view where there really is a real universal clock.

[TheLion]

You got me curious, so I have done some more reading. The best I can figure is that the gyroscope stays exactly the same (that is why they use them).

The axis of the ship will be aligned with a star and left there. If the gyro's axis changes with respect to the ship, it will give them their measurement. It is the ship's axis that will, in reality be changing.

Einstein said that a large object like like a planet would bend light. I think the bending of the light according to the curvature of space is right on the mark.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[stripes1776]

If the gyro's axis changes with respect to the ship, it will give them their measurement. It is the ship's axis that will, in reality be changing.

Thanks for the insight. Interesting stuff

[stripes1776]

Google "relativistic frame dragging" or "Lense-Thirring effect" for more details.....

Thanks for the link. These are new topics to me and very interesting.

[TheLion]

I used to spend hours reading this stuff when I was a kid....with the internet around then, we would have never slept!

[scouse]

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

Begin by pressing the "Pause" button.

[Nate1984]

Would satellites and random space matter effect the experiment?

[stripes1776]

Would satellites and random space matter effect the experiment?

Interesting question. I am not qualified to answer it with certainty, but here is a guess: the effect of satellites and random space matter would be so small compared to the effect of the earth, that you only need to consider the earth and can safely ignore the other stuff.

[RebelTex]

This leads scientists to believe that current theories will eventually be replaced by a single, elegant theory that explains all physical phenomena from the subatomic to the cosmic, the so-called "Theory of Everything."

Gee - all they have to do is read 'A Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy'.  They answer is right there - 42.

[Nate1984]

I don't know either, I'm sure they factor it all in, just curious to know how. I read an article once that described that spacesuits need to be built so strong for no reason other than tiny pieces of space dust can be traveling at speeds up to 10,000 mph, delivering a force equivalent to a .45 being shot at point blank.

[RightWhale]

he proved him incomplete

That would be a better way to go. More dignity.

[roaddog727]

We all contibute our own dimplette to the fabric of space-time.

[muir_redwoods]

I have no religion. I have no complaint with anyone who does have one but this is just my opinion. For me the study of cosmology is the study of creation and it ultimately leads to the study of whatever or whoever created it all. Scripture might be a fine answer for some but cosmology gives me a better look at the elegance, beauty and grandeur of the ultimate work.

It might be put that I am less interested in what men say G-d said then I am in what G-d has done. The results are there to see and the understanding, though hard to manage, is the trip of a lifetime.

[donh]

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.

Really? How?