[April Lexington]

This guy just proved the existence of G-d. Everywhere, all of the time and at the same time. Maybe these are just cracks through which we can peek at Heaven?

[freedumb2003]

Please allow me to wax philosophical and a it theological.

God made a massive and unbelievably complex Universe with rules that are discoverable and consistent. He evolved within us, His Children, brains that can reach to that Universe, and attempt to identify, classify and in the end, harness that Universe and bend it to Man’s will.

But knowing there are rules and jotting them down takes some darn smart people.

This article puts me at the very edge of what I can understand scientifically. And, since I have acrophobia, I don’t want to look down at the cliff face I find myself backed into.

Thanks for posting this, Lorianne — it is of incredible substance.

[ETL]

Here's an explanation of time dilation that I wrote myself. Hope it makes sense. The graphic I found on the Web.

"One second is defined as 'the duration of 9192631770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium 133 atom'..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second

Now imagine, instead of a vibrating 'caesium 133 atom', we have a beam of light bouncing back and forth between two mirrors within a vertical tube. Now let's say, for the sake of argument, that it takes precisely 'one second' for the light beam to reach the top mirror (tick), reflect off it, reverse and reach the bottom mirror (tock).

Now let's say the light tube, or 'light clock', is resting on a flatbed train car, and on the flatbed is an observer who we will call "Observer A". To Observer A, who is moving along with the train and is therefore 'at rest' with respect to it, the light beam simply travels from the bottom of the tube *vertically* to the top of the tube and then straight back down again. From the relationship, speed equals distance over time, we get time equals distance over speed. So this is then how Observer A defines time (t=distance/speed). Important to note here is that light travels at the SAME SPEED for ALL observers.

Now let's say there is an observer B standing on the embankment alongside the train watching it pass by. From this observer's point of view, or frame of reference, the light beam does NOT simply travel vertically up and down. Rather, it travels on a slanted or diagonal path since the train is in motion, let's say from left to right as Observer B sees it. Now since the light beam travels a diagonal path between tick and tock, again, from OB's stationary point of view, the light beam therefore is traveling a LONGER distance (from OB's perspective). Therefore, since the light beam is traveling a longer distance (from OB's perspective) AND since light travels at the same speed for all observers, the light beam MUST take a longer time to bounce between the two mirrors (tick-tock). Therefore, the two observers (A and B) do NOT agree on what a "second" is.

http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/classes/252/srelwhat.html

The mathematical relationship between the two paths is based on the Pythagorean Theorem for right-triangles that many of us used in high school.-ETL

[James C. Bennett]

Fascinating!

[Beowulf9]

Quasars got legs!

[Sender]

There is a very tiny, undiscovered micro black hole residing in my wallet. I saw it once, just a small spot of incredible blackness, in the corner of the money compartment. I felt a sort of morbid fascination as I stared into it. I poked it with my career, and that too disappeared. I don’t look in there anymore.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

Somewhere Fred Hoyle is laughing!

[The Purple Finger]

Gravity is its own independent force (minus mass). Once that is factored out, these simul events work out. It may not be conventional thinking at this point in time, but it will have to be eventually.

Gravity occurs first, coalesces any mass/gas around it. Enough He and H and a gravitational field and - pow - stars. Iron, Silicon, Magnesium, etc... floating around gets crushed in the gravity field and results in our planet. And of course mass itself can cause gravity as well.

If E (energy) can exists outside the equation (E=MC2) then theoretically it can exist minus mass as G alone.

Think outside the thinkers outside the box.

[Verginius Rufus]

Light is amazing. It travels at the rate of about 6 trillion miles a year for billions of years, never a day off, never gets paid, and never gets tired. You’d think some light rays would say “enough already! what’s the point of all this?” but they don’t.

[eclecticEel]

One theory, of dubious origin, posits that quasar’s are not in fact a natural phenomenon at all, but rather the result of alien civilizations flying planet sized spacecraft about the universe. It is, of course, given for this scenario that the realities of relativistic mechanics require that any serious interstellar mode of travel assume such proportions. Craft moving away from us would then be redshifted (appearing to us as quasars), craft moving toward us would be blueshifted straight into the deep UV region (and be blocked from sight by our atmosphere).

Just something I recalled when reading this article.

[Kevmo]

I think it is because the speed of light is not a constant, it just seemed like a constant to Einstein. It’s probably a decaying function over time or even over some other strange variable. This article looks good for the Electrogravitics keyword.

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/electrogravitics/index?tab=articles

[Kevmo]

Pinging some of my favorite cosmologists

[Eepsy]

I’ve often wondered, if mankind hadn’t evolved sight, would the speed of light be such an important part of physics still.

[Captain Beyond]

bflr

[Swordmaker]

Traditional Cosmologists again surprised by something... PING!

If you want on or off the Electric Universe Ping List, Freepmail me.

[raygun]

ping

[ETL]

Getting back to the subject of this thread for a moment. The issue of quasars and “time dilation” has to do with the fact that they are rapidly moving away from us via the expanding universe. They are extremely distant objects and so appear to be rushing away from us faster than anything that is closer.

However, this type of “movement” is not the same as if they were physically moving through space, but rather involves the expansion of the intervening space between them and us. The situation is often described as raisins in a loaf of bread baking in an oven. As the dough bakes, the bread expands and the raisins move apart.

[parsifal]

Good post. I doubt the Big Bang stuff. Don’t have an alternative, but I doubt that.

parsy

[Cyropaedia]

Cool.

[ETL]

From Discover Magazine...

The Gravity Probe:

If Einstein was right, a spinning planet should twist the fabric of space-time. To see the effect, all we need is a perfect gyroscope. And a perfect telescope. And a perfect vacuum in a perfect chamber in an orbit 400 miles up. After 40 years of planning and half a billion dollars, the test is about to begin. ...”

[much more on the subject at the link]

http://discovermagazine.com/1997/mar/thegravityprobe1075