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To: jda

All motion is relative. To state that the sun is the stationary point in your frame of reference around which the earth revolves, or that the earth is the stationary point around which the sun revolves are entirely equivalent.

Neither is true, and neither is false.

The only thing that is true is that the math that describes the motion of the earth, when you make the sun the stationary point of your frame of reference, is simpler than the math that describes the motion of the sun, when you make the earth the stationary point of your frame of reference.


6 posted on 02/18/2015 5:30:09 AM PST by jdege
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To: jdege
All motion is relative. To state that the sun is the stationary point in your frame of reference around which the earth revolves, or that the earth is the stationary point around which the sun revolves are entirely equivalent.

If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will come along to correct me. But I don't think the above statement is correct. All motion is relative in inertial reference frames, but the Sun-Earth system is not an inertial reference frame due to the centripetal acceleration.

I think the only correct (physics) way to look at it is to say that the Sun and the Earth both orbit about their combined center of mass, which is located inside the Sun, because the Sun is so big.

Again, if I'm wrong I hope someone corrects me.

10 posted on 02/18/2015 5:39:11 AM PST by Leaning Right (Why am I holding this lantern? I am looking for the next Reagan.)
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To: jdege
The only thing that is true is that the math that describes the motion of the earth, when you make the sun the stationary point of your frame of reference, is simpler than the math that describes the motion of the sun, when you make the earth the stationary point of your frame of reference.

Imagine the mathematical gymnastics required to describe the motion of the other planets in a geocentric solar system.
(or would it be a terra system?)


11 posted on 02/18/2015 5:42:39 AM PST by Iron Munro (Mark Steyn: “fundamentally transformed” is a euphemism for “wrecked beyond repair.”)
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To: jdege

Quite so.

Good brevity while being entirely apt.


13 posted on 02/18/2015 5:43:52 AM PST by Bogey78O (We had a good run. Coulda been great still.)
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To: jdege
To state that the sun is the stationary point in your frame of reference around which the earth revolves, or that the earth is the stationary point around which the sun revolves are entirely equivalent.

You must have gone to the same school of higher scientific knowledge as the cleric.

What you say is true, as long as you're only talking about the sun and earth - if you observe the sun from the earth, it appears that the sun is revolving around the earth, and vice versa. BUT, when you take into account the movement of the other planets, it is irrefutably clear (unless you deny the scientific method and rely on religious tradition) that the earth (and other planets) revolve around the sun.

16 posted on 02/18/2015 6:12:28 AM PST by jda ("Righteousness exalts a nation . . .")
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To: jdege

Can you tell the difference between a coffee mug and a donut?


44 posted on 02/18/2015 5:53:20 PM PST by GOPJ (If you can't get on the high horse for men burned alive and children raped, what's the horse for?)
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To: jdege

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topology

“There’s an old joke among mathematicians that topologists (who study deformations of space) can’t tell a coffee cup from a donut. In physics, topology is used in several areas such as quantum field theory and cosmology.”

From link:

A topological quantum field theory (or topological field theory or TQFT) is a quantum field theory which computes topological invariants.

Although TQFTs were invented by physicists, they are also of mathematical interest, being related to, among other things, knot theory and the theory of four-manifolds in algebraic topology, and to the theory of moduli spaces in algebraic geometry. Donaldson, Jones, Witten, and Kontsevich have all won Fields Medals for work related to topological field theory.

In cosmology, topology can be used to describe the overall shape of the universe.[18] This area is known as spacetime topology.


45 posted on 02/19/2015 2:38:53 PM PST by GOPJ (If you can't get on the high horse for men burned alive and children raped, what's the horse for?)
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