Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

To: Physicist; annalex
The situation where the car "jerks forward" sounds different. It sounds as if the acceleration of the car is not constant (which is how real cars accelerate). But that's not a fair test of the equivalence principle, that's just a test of the mechanics of the car and driver.

That is exactly the distiction I was making: between the way real cars on earth accelerate and the equivalence principle. I wan't trying to disprove the equivalence principle. It's two different scenarios.

I don't know of any way to do this, so yes, the fact that you can turn a dynamic acceleration on and off rapidly would probably be a good indication that the acceleration was not gravitational in nature.

That was the distiction I was making: between acceleration due to gravity and acceleration due to some other force. That is all I was trying to do.

Since you have joined in, do you think Super String theory in on the right path to reconcile the contraditions between quantum mechanics and relativity?

4,271 posted on 04/01/2006 9:31:08 AM PST by stripes1776
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4270 | View Replies ]


To: stripes1776; Physicist
you'd have to have some way of "turning on" the mass behind the car. I don't know of any way to do this, so yes, the fact that you can turn a dynamic acceleration on and off rapidly would probably be a good indication that the acceleration was not gravitational in nature.

the distiction I was making: between acceleration due to gravity and acceleration due to some other force

Thank you, Physicist, for piling on Luther with me, it is always fun...

We are on the same page all three. Yes, in practical terms, uneven acceleration cannot come from gravity. I agree. At the same time, an observer in an unevenly accelerating car might conclude that a gravitational force was growing behind his trunk and have all valid laws of nature observed consistent with that hypothesis. He would not be able to explain what is the source of that gravity, because planets do not emerge behind cars.

The reality, as Einstein sees it, is that in the reference frame of the unevenly accelerated car the timespace is unevenly warped. Whether the warp is inertial or gravitational is a matter of differently labeling the same reality.

Imagine a man who grows up very fast: so fast that he reaches maturity while the car increases its acceleration. That man has no knowledge other than what he can observe in a windowless laboratory inside the unevenly accelerated car. He has superintelligence that allows him to master the laws of nature, but he has no knowledge of what planets or cars are. He will observe the uneven warp of the horizontal timespace, period. He will posit two hypotheses: the Inertial Hypothesis, -- the car is unevenly accelerating; and the Gravitational Hypotheses, -- there is a growing or nearing mass behind the car. Being a good scientist he will stop at that; he will not prefer one hypothesis over the other, because, having been brought up inside his lab, he lacks the knowledge that would tell him that accelerating cars are very common and planets chasing cars are not common at all.

4,275 posted on 04/01/2006 12:48:02 PM PST by annalex
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4271 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson