On Wed, Jan 9, 2019 at 9:49 PM Bruce Kellett <[email protected]> wrote:
> *There is no theoretical value".* > The measure value is 137.035999139, the value obtained from 12,672 Feynman Diagrams is 137.035999173. If you don't like the name "theoretical value" for that second number then call is something else. How about "Bob"? *> All the values that we have are measured -- often in different ways, or > from the results of different experiments to measure the same things, such > as g-2, so there can be a range of measured results.* Nobody uses 12,672 Feynman Diagrams to find a measured result. > > in the final analysis, the fine structure constant is an arbitrary > physical constant that must be measured > So is the speed of light, but Maxwell's theory can calculate that speed and the fact that the calculated speed agrees with the measured speed tells us that Maxwell had a good theory. The reason scientists went to the considerable trouble of calculating the Fine Structure Constant from 12,672 Feynman Diagrams when they already knew from measurement what the correct answer is was to test the theory and see if it still worked at that incredible degree of accuracy. And It did work. Why else would physicists have such enormous confidence in Feynman's diagrams? How else can you tell the difference between a good physical theory and a bad one? John K Clark > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
