Posted on 08/09/2010 7:25:58 AM PDT by LibWhacker
Physicists struggling to reconcile gravity with quantum mechanics have hailed a theory inspired by pencil lead that could make it all very simple
IT WAS a speech that changed the way we think of space and time. The year was 1908, and the German mathematician Hermann Minkowski had been trying to make sense of Albert Einstein's hot new idea - what we now know as special relativity - describing how things shrink as they move faster and time becomes distorted. "Henceforth space by itself and time by itself are doomed to fade into the mere shadows," Minkowski proclaimed, "and only a union of the two will preserve an independent reality."
And so space-time - the malleable fabric whose geometry can be changed by the gravity of stars, planets and matter - was born. It is a concept that has served us well, but if physicist Petr Horava is right, it may be no more than a mirage. Horava, who is at the University of California, Berkeley, wants to rip this fabric apart and set time and space free from one another in order to come up with a unified theory that reconciles the disparate worlds of quantum mechanics and gravity - one the most pressing challenges to modern physics.
Since Horava published his work in January 2009, it has received an astonishing amount of attention. Already, more than 250 papers have been written about it. Some researchers have started using it to explain away the twin cosmological mysteries of dark matter and dark energy. Others are finding that black holes might not behave as we thought. If Horava's idea is right, it could forever change our conception of space and time and lead us to a "theory of everything", applicable to all matter and the forces that act on...
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
Are there any Purdue grads on this thread? Doesn't mass increase with speed?
LOL Clear as a bell except for that last term in the Effective Lagrangian. ;)
Agreed. It also sounds easier to understand than String Theory. It always bothered me that String Theory does not seem to be teachable in a conceptual way, to the layman, in the way Special and General Relativity can be. I can't get my head around ST at all. But the thought experiments Einstein used to explain Relativity are not too difficult to grasp and kind of fun.
That one is always a real knee slapper.
ping
Take a boson and call me in the morning.
Our universe exists int he planar present as now expressed, and entire of creation exists in the volume of time. There are strong clues that the limits we endure are not a hindrance to certain beings, like Jesus who left the tomb without rolling away a heavy stone and entered a closed room without using a door or window, just materialized there and vanished from there. [Also, see fifth chapter of Daniel, for another interesting hint at the 'volume of time' and a being who reached from that where/when into the where/when of a Babylonian king and his party animals.]
That made my brain hurt.
Interesting comments by Julian Mann at the end of the article.
OK smartie, now you have to explain the article to me!
OK, that’s funny AND I got it. :)
“I was going to attend the clairvoyant’s meeting, but it was canceled due to unforeseen events.”
Great Post.
Isa 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Why is that a valid thing to do? Seems whimsical, like a theory based on Alice in Wonderland.
I wonder what the very last comment said (Zotted).
Thank you so much for sharing your insights, dear brother in Christ!
I’ve been saying for a long time that relativity needs to be revisited. Here are some of the articles I’ve posted on FR.
Rethinking relativity: Is time out of joint?
Monday, November 02, 2009 9:29:43 PM · by Kevmo · 58 replies · 2,519+ views
New Scientist ^ | 21 October 2009 | Rachel Courtland
Re-Analysis of the Marinov Light-Speed Anisotropy Experiment
Friday, June 12, 2009 11:25:41 PM · by Kevmo · 27 replies · 1,652+ views
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/physics/pdf/0612/0612201v2.pdf ^ | Reginald T. Cahill
The Suppression of Inconvenient Facts in Physics
Sunday, June 07, 2009 7:50:26 PM · by Kevmo · 80 replies · 2,374+ views
Suppressed Science.Net ^ | 12/06/08 | http://www.suppressedscience.net/
The End of Snide Remarks Against Cold Fusion
Friday, June 05, 2009 5:56:08 PM · by Kevmo · 96 replies · 2,393+ views
Free Republic, Gravitronics.net and Intrade ^ | 6/5/09 | kevmo, et al
SubQuantum Kinetics, wide ranging unifying cosmology theory by Dr. Paul LaViolette
Wednesday, August 22, 2007 12:00:43 PM · by Kevmo · 68 replies · 1,785+ views
THE STARBURST FOUNDATION ^ | January 2007 | Dr. Paul LaViolette
*** Are there any Purdue grads on this thread? Doesn't mass increase with speed? ***
Yes it does.
Another tiny stumbling block in 'us' ever achieving travel at or near Light Speed .
And no I didn't go to Purdue, but I know someone who did :-)
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