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NASA will test theory of relativity

Lionheart

17:09 / 31.05.02

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/2002/release_2002_123.html

Uhm.. I haven't analyzed the article yet so I'm not exactly clear on what they are planning to do.

Lurid Archive

19:18 / 04.06.02

From the article,

Ultra-precise clocks on the International Space Station and other space missions may determine whether Albert Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity is correct and could dramatically change our understanding of the universe.

But as I understand it - and its a very shallow understanding - special relativity is wrong. Thats why Einstein introduced General Relativity (GR). For instance,

The theory, introduced in 1905, holds that if an observer moves at a uniform speed, no matter how fast or in what direction, the laws of physics and the speed of light are always the same. For example, if you stand still and drop a coin, it will fall straight down. Similarly, if you drop a coin inside a car while you're driving down the freeway at a steady speed, it will also fall straight down.

I think the corresponding statement in GR is a bit more complex. Then again, I'm not really sure. I always meant to read about it...

Mystery Gypt

02:28 / 05.06.02

wait... if relatvity is proved correct, it will dramatically change our understanding of the universe? but i had been taught already that we accept relativity and that in accepting it, we have dramatically changed our view of the universe from what is intuited or newtonian. so are we changing it back? what's the change? i'm a bit confused by where to locate the drama here.

Lionheart

17:16 / 05.06.02

Mystery Gypt: No, if relativity is proven wrong then that will chane our view of the universe but we can't go back to Newtonian physics because of quantum physics. Track down the quantum gravity article posted a few months back.

Lurid: If I remember correctly then special relativity is accepted by scientists and is actually a part of general relativity.

Chuckling Duck

17:27 / 05.06.02

Scientific theories are always being tested and refined. This experiment will show whether the currently accepted version of relativity is accurate, or whether competing theories of relativity that predict slightly different phenomena in non-Earthlike environments should be adopted.

I don’t expect that this experiment will result in any major modification to the theory of relativity, since its predictions have been confirmed under many different circumstances. But the experiment sounds worthwhile; at worst, we’ll have another confirmation of the ToR, and at best we’ll gain new insight into the universe.

Lurid Archive

19:45 / 05.06.02

Quantum mechanics and relativity are separate - this is a big problem in physics at the moment. We can't go from relativity back to Newtonian mechanics because of experiments that show the speed of light is "constant". Hence if relativity is superceded, it gets superceded by something more complicated - as Chuckling Duck says.

I did a little bit of reading today and special relativity is like baby general relativity. It ignores the effect of gravity and is thus incorrect when such effects are relevant. Scientists definitely accept General relativity rather than special.

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