On Thursday 04 October 2007 15:12, Terry Blanton wrote:
> http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-10/uom-mpd100307.php
>
> MU physicist defends Einstein's theory and 'speed of gravity' measurement
>
> COLUMBIA, Mo. – Scientists have attempted to disprove Albert
> Einstein's theory of general relativity for the better part of a
> century. After testing and confirming Einstein's prediction in 2002
> that gravity moves at the speed of light, a professor at the
> University of Missouri-Columbia has spent the past five years
> defending the result, as well as his own innovative experimental
> techniques for measuring the speed of propagation of the tiny ripples
> of space-time known as gravitational waves.
>
> Sergei Kopeikin, associate professor of physics and astronomy in the
> College of Arts and Science, believes that his latest article,
> "Gravimagnetism, causality, and aberration of gravity in the
> gravitational light-ray deflection experiments" published along with
> Edward Fomalont from the National Radio Astronomical Observatory,
> arrives at a consensus in the continuing debate that has divided the
> scientific community.
>
> An experiment conducted by Fomalont and Kopeikin five years ago found
> that the gravity force of Jupiter and light travel at the same speed,
> which validates Einstein's suggestion that gravity and electromagnetic
> field properties, are governed by the same principle of special
> relativity with a single fundamental speed. In observing the
> gravitational deflection of light caused by motion of Jupiter in
> space, Kopeikin concluded that mass currents cause non-stationary
> gravimagnetic fields to form in accordance with Einstein's point of
> view. The research paper that discusses the gravimagnetic field
> appears in the October edition of Journal of General Relativity and
> Gravitation.
>
> Einstein believed that in order to measure any property of gravity,
> one has to use test particles. "By observing the motion of the
> particles under influence of the gravity force, one can then extract
> properties of the gravitational field," Kopeikin said. "Particles
> without mass – such as photons – are particularly useful because they
> always propagate with constant speed of light irrespectively of the
> reference frame used for observations."
>
> The property of gravity tested in the experiment with Jupiter also is
> called causality. Causality denotes the relationship between one event
> (cause) and another event (effect), which is the consequence (result)
> of the first. In the case of the speed of gravity experiment, the
> cause is the event of the gravitational perturbation of photon by
> Jupiter, and the effect is the event of detection of this
> gravitational perturbation by an observer. The two events are
> separated by a certain interval of time which can be measured as
> Jupiter moves, and compared with an independently-measured interval of
> time taken by photon to propagate from Jupiter to the observer. The
> experiment found that two intervals of time for gravity and light
> coincide up to 20 percent. Therefore, the gravitational field cannot
> act faster than light propagates."
>
> Other physicists argue that the Fomalont-Kopeikin experiment measured
> nothing else but the speed of light. "This point of view stems from
> the belief that the time-dependent perturbation of the gravitational
> field of a uniformly moving Jupiter is too small to detect," Kopeikin
> said. "However, our research article clearly demonstrates that this
> belief is based on insufficient mathematical exploration of the rich
> nature of the Einstein field equations and a misunderstanding of the
> physical laws of interaction of light and gravity in curved
> space-time."
>
> <end>
>
>
/rant
Just another cover story. That the speed of light varies is well known.
Prattlers often speak and write about 'speed of light in a vacuum, but
there is no vacuum in our universe that is truly a vacuum. So again
the so called constant speed of light is just using the so called vacuum of
space as yet another medium of travel. We do not even know what light
is. Anyone ever 'seen' a 'photon'? And as for the duality of energy/
particulate nature of light, one would suppose some mass for that light
particle however small. Look into the article and see the fawning attitude
assumed by the writer when referring to Einstein. I have no idea what
the speed of gravity is in relation to light, but consider the implications
of attempting to measure a system from within said system using tools
that are dynamically tied to that system. Just as falling objects in air
tend to a terminal velocity roughly based on their geometry and density, so
too will light eventually be seen as assuming terminal velocities in whatever
medium it finds itself, especially if one considers a particulate form such
as photons. Gravity however as a perturbation of space itself, and gravity
waves vibrating space...that we are part of... would seem to have its own
rules, not caring about what we think. Perturbations in space would seem
to be better measured by observations taken outside of normal space so
as to allow for fixed reference points. And using light as a measuring tool
must needs end up as the articles' hypotheses detractors conclusions that
the whole experiment ended up measuring the speed of light, with the real
speed of gravity buried in the noise as it were.
Consider the size of the universe. If light were the limit, then why are
there galaxies farther away from us than light can travel in the hypothetical
age of the universe. Not only that, some hypothesize that there is a large
part of the universe that we will never see as its light has yet to reach us.
Some would say 'inflation' caused it. That would be like the 'other
people' in the Bible that married the children of Adam and Eve....where did
THEY come from? Inflation?! If it happened ONCE it could happen again.
Maybe it could happen in a controlled fashion and be utilizable for space
travel. Some experiments on this forum claim this. Have over thirty
thousand posts. Its there somewhere.
/end rant
Standing Bear
