- #1
Doctordick
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Well guys, I'm back. I thought about it some more and perhaps I have a way to reach you in spite of your utter refusal to think things out.
In case anyone reading this does not know who I am, I am that idiot who has suggested that the physics community has over looked something significant. I fully realize that something like that could not possibly be true so don't bother trying to tell me how ignorant I am.
I am the person who claims that "clocks measure time" is an erroneous statement! In defense of that position, I suggest the following thought experiment involving any conceivable "ideal" clock:
The experimenter will throw the clock across the room where upon it is smashed to smithereens.
Now, let us examine that experiment from a number of different frames of reference. I make the claim that all observers (totally independent of their frame of reference) will find the reading on that clock at the moment it leaves the experimenters hand will have a specific value. They will all agree as to what that reading was and the reading has absolutely nothing to do with their frame of reference.
I further make the claim that all observers will find the reading on that clock at the moment it is smashed to smithereens will also have a specific value. And once again, they will all agree as to what that reading was. Once again, that reading has absolutely nothing to do with their frame of reference.
In fact, they will all observe that clock to be a measuring device which starts with some reading and terminates with a second reading, having progressed through all the intermediate readings between the two. The only differences they will claim have to do with the coordinates describing the event in their personal frames of reference. In particular, the length of time required for the event to occur will vary from frame to frame. What is important here is that the reading on the clock has absolutely nothing to do with the "time" used in the description of the experiment in anyone's frame of reference!
That fact must be true as the functioning of the clock is determined by physical laws and those physical laws are (from the axioms of relativity itself) independent of your frame of reference! The functioning of that "ideal" clock cannot possibly be a function of your frame of reference!
Now, what I have given is a rather extreme; however, it is an accurate description of the functioning of an ideal clock. Any "ideal" clock proceeds from significant moment to significant moment and, if we are to accurately assess the behavior of that "ideal" clock, we must take into account each and every interaction event between that clock and the rest of the universe. In the "ideal" case, all events are significant!
It is not necessary that the "significant" interactions destroy the clock. That example was created to get your attention to the specific behavior of an "ideal" clock. Just as the thrown clock in the experiment did not measure time in anyone's frame of reference, no "ideal" clock in the universe can possibly measure time in anyone's frame of reference.
On the other hand, the clock certainly has a very specific periodic behavior which we find very convenient in all measuring devices. So it certainly can be thought of as measuring something. If it isn't "time" which is being measured, exactly what is being measured?
If any of you geniuses out there can wrap your head around that, I look forward to your responses.
Have fun -- Dick
In case anyone reading this does not know who I am, I am that idiot who has suggested that the physics community has over looked something significant. I fully realize that something like that could not possibly be true so don't bother trying to tell me how ignorant I am.
I am the person who claims that "clocks measure time" is an erroneous statement! In defense of that position, I suggest the following thought experiment involving any conceivable "ideal" clock:
The experimenter will throw the clock across the room where upon it is smashed to smithereens.
Now, let us examine that experiment from a number of different frames of reference. I make the claim that all observers (totally independent of their frame of reference) will find the reading on that clock at the moment it leaves the experimenters hand will have a specific value. They will all agree as to what that reading was and the reading has absolutely nothing to do with their frame of reference.
I further make the claim that all observers will find the reading on that clock at the moment it is smashed to smithereens will also have a specific value. And once again, they will all agree as to what that reading was. Once again, that reading has absolutely nothing to do with their frame of reference.
In fact, they will all observe that clock to be a measuring device which starts with some reading and terminates with a second reading, having progressed through all the intermediate readings between the two. The only differences they will claim have to do with the coordinates describing the event in their personal frames of reference. In particular, the length of time required for the event to occur will vary from frame to frame. What is important here is that the reading on the clock has absolutely nothing to do with the "time" used in the description of the experiment in anyone's frame of reference!
That fact must be true as the functioning of the clock is determined by physical laws and those physical laws are (from the axioms of relativity itself) independent of your frame of reference! The functioning of that "ideal" clock cannot possibly be a function of your frame of reference!
Now, what I have given is a rather extreme; however, it is an accurate description of the functioning of an ideal clock. Any "ideal" clock proceeds from significant moment to significant moment and, if we are to accurately assess the behavior of that "ideal" clock, we must take into account each and every interaction event between that clock and the rest of the universe. In the "ideal" case, all events are significant!
It is not necessary that the "significant" interactions destroy the clock. That example was created to get your attention to the specific behavior of an "ideal" clock. Just as the thrown clock in the experiment did not measure time in anyone's frame of reference, no "ideal" clock in the universe can possibly measure time in anyone's frame of reference.
On the other hand, the clock certainly has a very specific periodic behavior which we find very convenient in all measuring devices. So it certainly can be thought of as measuring something. If it isn't "time" which is being measured, exactly what is being measured?
If any of you geniuses out there can wrap your head around that, I look forward to your responses.
Have fun -- Dick