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Salanis
Salanis Dork
8/5/08 5:20 p.m.
DirtyBird222 said: Damn my friends just convinced me that the earth was round, now this comes out? WTF!!!

Those dreams about Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and Elvis taking you into their hover ship and brutally sodomizing you are really repressed memories too.

RX Reven'
RX Reven' GRM+ Memberand New Reader
8/6/08 11:47 a.m.
Salanis wrote: I think we'd need to do something like measure the gravitational effect of a large stellar body....could that mean that if a massive body moving at high speed went past another object, there'd be a Doppler effect in their gravitational forces?

“Here’s to you, true man of genius”

Exactly…I know several experiments along these lines have been conducted and at one time, I was fairly familiar with the indications & limitations but with a 60 hour work week and two small kids to attend to, my focus has been a little more down to earth lately.

I’d be very happy to see research conducted that was aimed at observing or possibly even inducing any kind of variance in gravity. I think a lot of scientist shy away from this field for fear of being perceived as belonging to the lunatic fringe. But this isn’t about anti gravity, time travel, etc., this is about investigating whether gravity consists of constituent parts or if it has a flux or if it’s influenced by velocity, energy, magnetism, or ???…it’s about seeing if can be focused, filtered, redirected, or redistributed in time…it’s about stuff I’m not smart enough to envision.

Salanis
Salanis Dork
8/6/08 12:13 p.m.

Not to mention the mechanics of just how you would test it.

The best way I can think of is to find the next time a comet will pass near the Earth. Send up a satellite with a whole slew of accelerometers on it and set it up so that it will be just to the side of the comet's path.

That presumes that a comet is massive and fast moving enough to have a clear effect.

If the comet and satellite are outside the orbit of any planet, there should be less interference.

GameboyRMH
GameboyRMH GRM+ Memberand Dork
8/6/08 2:02 p.m.

Not surprising. There are creationists and GW deniers and moon landing conspiracy theorists, why not flat earthers?

DirtyBird222
DirtyBird222 Reader
8/6/08 5:02 p.m.
Salanis wrote:
DirtyBird222 said: Damn my friends just convinced me that the earth was round, now this comes out? WTF!!!
Those dreams about Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and Elvis taking you into their hover ship and brutally sodomizing you are really repressed memories too.

Can't forget Al Gore and Manbearpig either.

Luke
Luke Dork
8/7/08 2:32 a.m.
GameboyRMH wrote: Not surprising. There are creationists and GW deniers and moon landing conspiracy theorists, why not flat earthers?

As wacky as those other theories may seem, it's much harder to immediately disprove them. Flat Earthers take the wacky to a whole new level. Blatant, utterly plausible scientific proof abounds, yet they refuse to acknowledge it.

Jensenman
Jensenman SuperDork
8/7/08 7:34 a.m.
Salanis wrote: Not to mention the mechanics of just *how* you would test it. The best way I can think of is to find the next time a comet will pass near the Earth. Send up a satellite with a whole slew of accelerometers on it and set it up so that it will be just to the side of the comet's path. That presumes that a comet is massive and fast moving enough to have a clear effect. If the comet and satellite are outside the orbit of any planet, there should be less interference.

IIRC, one or more of the Apollo missions did an experiment when the capsule rounded the Moon, looking for differences in the gravitational pull between the Earth and far sides. Real similar to the accelerometer experiment you envision.

I don't recall exactly who did it, but some time back there was a lot of excitement about gravity actually bending light rays. Einstein predicted it would and someone proved it through observations of, IIRC, watching the moon pass in front of certain stars.

It seems odd that something we think of as energy (light) displays some of the properties of matter (altered and/or moved by gravity). It makes you wonder if we really understand the differences between matter and energy. Or if there is even a real difference.

Then there are the Lagrangian points, where the gravitational pull of different bodies are balanced. It's possible to put a satellite there and it will just float in one spot. There are five mapped around Earth and pretty much every planet or other celestial body has them as well.

16vCorey
16vCorey Dork
8/7/08 7:53 a.m.

"Today, a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration and that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. There's no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and you are the imagination of yourself. Here's Tom with the weather!"

RIP Bill Hicks

RX Reven'
RX Reven' GRM+ Memberand New Reader
8/7/08 10:27 a.m.

Hi Jensenman,

The light bending observation was made during a solar eclipse where the moon blocked out all but the sun’s corona allowing observations to be made of light from distant stars passing very close to the sun and yes, the apparent position of the stars shifted; the stars appeared to gravitate (excuse the pun) towards the sun as it approached their stream of light and then lag behind as the sun passed their stream of light just as predicted.

Today it’s just a given that light has mass or at least behaves as though it does; Think about it, this is what makes black holes black.

Jensenman
Jensenman SuperDork
8/7/08 12:51 p.m.

Yeah, I get that. But isn't it weird to think of something which has no apparent weight or mass as being subject to a force which as we understand it should only work on things which have mass?

I remember the old experiment with the black and white squares on the little wire contraption inside the glass globe which will spin when a lamp is shined on it. That one will make you scratch your head. How does a 'substance' go through a glass container and make asomethig spin? I saw one which was in a vacuum do the same thing, so I don't think heating/cooling could explain it.

aircooled
aircooled Dork
8/7/08 5:36 p.m.

OK wrap you head around these:

5 scientific theories that will make your head explode

BTW - There is a bit of language in these

Salanis
Salanis Dork
8/7/08 5:55 p.m.

Quantum Entanglement is the only really head exploding one of those theories.

It does lend credence to the instant-gravity idea.

GlennS
GlennS HalfDork
8/7/08 6:06 p.m.

I thought The Copenhagen Interpretation was kinda bazaar as well.

Jensenman
Jensenman SuperDork
8/7/08 7:10 p.m.
aircooled wrote: OK wrap you head around these: 5 scientific theories that will make your head explode BTW - There is a bit of language in these

LOL! I didn't realize Cracked had a website.

NYG95GA
NYG95GA Dork
8/7/08 7:29 p.m.

I'm ignoring this thread , and loving every minute of it.

On the other side of the universe, so is my doppelganger.

He's likely pissed about it, though.

It's the nature of the beast.. don't take my word for it.. ask Issac Newton.

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