General > Off Topic
Faster than light
PurpleYouko:
I will go back and read your article again to see if I can find specifics.
By my understanding though, there is no experiment that we are able to do in which relativity comes up with a different answer than Newtonian physics.
In order to see any divergence we would need to be travelling at a very significant fraction of light speed.
We simply don't have accurate or precise enough instruments to tell the difference at the speeds that we are able to travel.
Num: I haven't heard about this Mercury orbit thing. Do you have any references?
:unsure: PY :unsure:
Botsareus:
ahhh ic , light is really traveling on the same speed, but because the abserver on the ground is in a "different time frame" it "seams" to him that the speed of light is different for bouth directions.
Numsgil:
PY, try this out.
I think that's what I'm talking about. Second section entitled 'Mercury's Changing Orbit'.
Also, I think there have been some tests using the mirror on the moon to test the idea of the speed of light being constant for all intertial frames. Could be wrong though, I'm not a scientist.
Bots, are you talking about the Ether? Because that was proved wrong later, which is why they needed relativity.
Botsareus:
No I am quoteing some of my comprehansion of the link shvartz posted, just never mind or somthing.
PurpleYouko:
The ETHER was never actually proved wrong.
Using this contraption
The Michelson Morley experiment showed that there was not the expected flow in the ether on the surface of the Earth. They did, however, measure some differences.
This discepency could be explained either by relativity or by the Fitzgerald-Lorentz contraction.
--- Quote ---Another possible solution was found in the Fitzgerald-Lorentz contraction. In this theory all objects physically contract along the line of motion relative to the aether, so while the light may indeed transit slower on that arm, it also ends up travelling a shorter distance that exactly cancels out the drift.
--- End quote ---
Other suggested reasons for the results include the magnetic field of the planet dragging the ether along with it. After all we know that gravity effects light.
And even to this day there is a small difference noted when the experiment is repeated with modern lasers over much longer path lengths. They just don't match up to the effect expected by the presence of a universally stationary ether.
The ETHER theory has now been all but abandoned in favor of relativity even though, with certain ammendments, it can explain pretty much everything as well as relativity can.
:D PY :D
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