I have just conducted a small experiment. During a set of five five-minute
intervals The BIPM (Bureau International des Poids et Mesures) website's
current-UTC value transmission from Sèvres (near Paris) to my workstation in
Ashland (near Boston) had a mean transmission-delay of 0.11 sec and minimal
and maximal transmission-delays of 0.1 sec and 0.5 sec, these values
provided by BIPM itself.
Transmission latency is easily measured and corrected for where it is
important; and there are both theory and practice for doing so already in
place, elaborated for use in adjusting and rationalizing the TAI values
generated by the national observatories that form part of the BIPM network.
Moreover, all this is possible for terrestrial computer networks using only
classical physics, i.e., without resort to either the special or the general
theory of relativity. Even introducing a lunar computer into such a network
would probably not make the use of relativistic mechanics necessary.
Relativistic mechanics is more interesting that classical, Newtonian
mechanics; but for the foreseeable future its use here is, unfortunately,
otiose.
John Gilmore
Ashland, MA 01721-1817
USA
_________________________________________________________________
FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar get it now!
http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO
Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
