- #1
Martin Miller
- 49
- 0
The SR Question of the Century
=================================
=================================
Why has no one simply used two clocks on a table
to measure light's one-way speed?
=================================
=================================
(Note: No, Roemer did not do it; he used slow
clock transfer, where one clock spanned the
Earth's orbit, and since moving clocks run
slow, his clocks were asynchronous.)
For those who may need it, here is a detailed
version of my question:
=================================
Given two new atomic clocks still in their
shipping crates, how would anyone use these
clocks to measure light's one-way speed in
a way that is proved to be correct?
=================================
Basically, I am speaking simply of the one-way
version of the Michelson-Morley experiment.
And if you happen to believe that the MMx
round-trip experiment somehow even _implied_
one-way invariance, then you need to prove
this via the critical case of a frame that
moves wrt the light source.
The given question is extremely important
because an incorrect measurement of light's
one-way speed means incorrect measurements
of all one-way speeds and all time spans
involving two or more clocks.
The given question is also extremely important
because special relativity (our current theory
of time measurement) is based solely upon
Einstein's light postulate, which claims light
speed invariance in the one-way case.
=================================
=================================
Why has no one simply used two clocks on a table
to measure light's one-way speed?
=================================
=================================
(Note: No, Roemer did not do it; he used slow
clock transfer, where one clock spanned the
Earth's orbit, and since moving clocks run
slow, his clocks were asynchronous.)
For those who may need it, here is a detailed
version of my question:
=================================
Given two new atomic clocks still in their
shipping crates, how would anyone use these
clocks to measure light's one-way speed in
a way that is proved to be correct?
=================================
Basically, I am speaking simply of the one-way
version of the Michelson-Morley experiment.
And if you happen to believe that the MMx
round-trip experiment somehow even _implied_
one-way invariance, then you need to prove
this via the critical case of a frame that
moves wrt the light source.
The given question is extremely important
because an incorrect measurement of light's
one-way speed means incorrect measurements
of all one-way speeds and all time spans
involving two or more clocks.
The given question is also extremely important
because special relativity (our current theory
of time measurement) is based solely upon
Einstein's light postulate, which claims light
speed invariance in the one-way case.
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