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Re: An Important Post.
From: Joe Cummings[SMTP:joecmn-at-globalnet.co.uk]
Sent: Sunday, August 10, 1997 10:36 AM
To: Tesla List
Subject: Re: An Important Post.
At 23:08 08/08/97 -0500, you wrote:
>
>From: Richard Wayne Wall[SMTP:rwall-at-ix-dot-netcom-dot-com]
>Sent: Friday, August 08, 1997 12:01 PM
>To: Tesla List
>Subject: Re: An Important Post.
>
>GL wrote:
>
>>The issue of the ether, at least, had been put to rest long ago by the
>>famous Michelson-Morley experiment, first performed in 1887 and in
>>every 2nd year college physics lab since then.
>
>The issue of the existance of ether has never been put to rest by the
>Michelson Morley Experiment. The experiment, at best, gives null
>results.
>Even if one is not entirely sure about the existence of ether, he or
>she should keep an open mind.
>
>RWW
As far as I remember,the problem of the ether was dealt with by
Einstein in his earlier work along the lines that,
if it is unobservable, it wasn't a part of physical theory.
He hypothesised that the velocity of light in empty space was
always the same relative to any mobile co-ordinate system.
This implied the Lorentz transformation, and explained the Michelson-Morley
experiment.
RW is right, keep an open mind.
Think of two problems:
Two bodies a light-year apart inside an empty sphere a thousand
light-years' diameter. These wil be immediately attracted to each
other directly proportionally to the product of their masses and
inversely according to the square of the distance between them - immediately!
In a vacuum, particles come into existence and disappear. Whence? Whither?
However (having managed to squeeze in my two-penn'orth), you're right, the
topic doesn't belong
here:)
Joe Cummings.