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Tue 7 Jan, 2003 09:27 pm
New measurements of gravity imply that gravity works at the speed of light. Which proves Einstein's general theory of relativity.
speed of gravity
One scientist in the article stated that if gravity was found to be otherwise, he would have been shocked. I guess it's one of those assumed concepts that was finally proven.
Another link:
From Space.com
Well, it's about time some illumination was given this weighty subject, relatively speaking, of course.
timber
Right on. Wasn't there a writeup in Discover a few months ago about some folks who had designed a different experiment to test this? Bet they're bummed right now. Nobody ever remembers who got there second (unless we forget who got there first).
Timber -
good ones
Pdog - I must read that article because this felt like old news. Maybe the same people?
Could be. But this experiment didn't sound at all familiar (except for its similarity to the one used to verify the claim that photons should have mass). I've something of a suspect memory for people and things, though.
I just have a bad memory - well, I'm a little cynical too.
Long Island elevator operator: "Call out your flaws!"
Comedian: "I can't be intimate."
Photons don't have Mass. They're Protestant.
Don't mind Equus. He's quarky.
At least he's not a wimp. [size=7](Weakly interacting massive particle.)[/size]
Photons really don't have mass, btw. You mighta been thinking of neutrinos. (Which reminds me, littlek, E.G. says he does plan to respond, but I dunno WHEN.)
Right. Stupid me. The refraction of the starlight by the sun (observed during eclipse) was to demonstrate the curvature of space. Simultaneously confused that and the demonstration that photons do display momentum (isn't that intimated by E=mc^2 and demonstrated through a variety of experiments?). See? Faulty memory. Careless speech.
Should maybe abandon pursuit of biological sciences... ;-)
NEWS FLASH!
Speed of gravity is incorrect! The results of the speed of light study done recenty are debated.
oops
d'oh! That's gotta sting.
Quote:There remains little doubt that something was measured last September when the largest planet in our solar system fortuitously passed in front of a bright galaxy some 9 billion light-years away. What remains is for physicists to agree on what was seen.
That's pretty much the point of science, isn't it? The search for answers may be expected from time to time to broaden, not narrow, the focus of the question at hand.
timber
Yeah, but them scientists still have egos -- pretty big ones, a lot of the time. (Part of what's so amazing about Waston and Crick's DNA model was that they failed miserably on their first go at it, and plowed onward anyway. Of course, it would have been very quickly figured out by the people who did all the real labor very shortly, anyway, but nevertheless...)
patiodog, the world owes more to graduate students and lab techs than to titled, many-degreed, tenured, honor-bedecked big-name researchers, that's for sure.
timber
It's true. Though I look around the academic institution I'm at and it seems to be more about postdocs here (or now). Sad thing is, I make about the same amount of money most of them do.
Watson and Crick were gradual students at the time, by the way -- but that's back when you could spend years and years at a university working on your dissertation.
We never heard anything from
LIGO did we?
They started listening for gravity waves over three years ago. Has there been nothing?
If this experiment checks out, it will probably be the most famous discovery of our lifetimes...
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