Recent content by Canticle

As em waves are transmitted by atomic scattering ALL waves are refracted or diffracted in a dielectric medium, some very slightly, as in a diffuse plasma (ion cloud) and some almost completely absorbed. Different frequencies are slowed differently (prism), - (by polarisation mode dispersal -...

Sorry DH. I was using Oxford English, where it means disturbed/confused. In this context it is of course also normally very small. NASA has however often been surprised how large it can be, (and it also seems responsible for the flat galactic acceleration curve, unless you prefer MOND).

I'm not convinced that's right guys. The main solar and planetary accelerations are known and calculable, that is; 'non perturbative', but there are often other accelerations which are not consistent and are not easily calculable. The Flyby anomaly is one, probably related to that from the...

It's related to particle spin, which is actually oscillation. Feynman had a good way of explaining it. To expand on that; If a life guard had to rescue someone in the water, his fastest route would depend on his running speed in sand and how fast he can swim. He doesn't run straight for the...

It's also partly about construction. The keystone is normally the last stone to go into release the load on the formers. There are also many different shaped arches, and in many, i.e. gothic arches, the keystone takes the most compressive load, as all the load line doesn't necessarily follow...

I don't see maths as an enemy max, "a super tool", but it's as possible to misuse maths as it is anything else. Sorry Dale but; AE: "There is no logical way to the discovery of these elemental laws, only the way of intuition.." (but which I agree can also be misused!). We can agree to...

Sorry Dale. I thought the law of an excluded middle was scattered by quantum logic. And, as dx said, I have 'no knowledge of even basic physics'. But consider this when floating in space arguing about who's flying past who; "There cannot be an intermediate between contradictions". So if a...

Thanks for the lovely 'barmaid' description Max. It took me 15 years to really work out relativity. If I'd seen that early on it may have helped a bit. But it took another 15 to work out what needs adjusting with it. It's the Kings new clothes. Here's just a few bits of the evidence; 1...

Well done mrb. But you (and Zz) should note I only said not 'entirely' maths, ..and overview 'first'. Maveric has proved my point by appearing not to know the relevant part of QM first came along only just after SR! And by not knowing about the conflicts between QED and SR. and 'I am...

Yes DX, but if the light source is moving as well it's still the 'reference frame of space', i.e. a 3rd frame, and the results are still the same; = 'c'. Yes I think it's a paradox, and it's generally included with all the others, (similar to the twins paradox which can't handle non inertial...

The basic light paradox in SR, that's well explained but never actually resolved unless we deny the quantum field (as many still do). i.e. (for all -as AE said we 'should be able to explain physics to a barmaid'!); If you're flying through space at 0.5c towards a stationary light source, the...

but you shouldn't be fooled into thinking that solves the basic light paradox. Yes, whatever the velocity/vector of the propagator or reciever they measure light at 'c'. The history of light measurement is long and interesting. The 'fact' came first, the variable reference frame...

OK sorry, rather overstated deathbed bit for brevity. Don't want to hijac mrb's thread, and never rely on quotes as 'proof' of anything, but; We all must know AE's comment that, effectively, if there was a quantum field SR would not work (look it up!), and By '55, after Feynman et al, with...

A bit of an overview here mrb; Be careful not to follow the path of entirely math led physics. Math is just a tool. My advice is try for the conceptual undersatanding first. You'll find that SR, and current physics in general is full of paradox. Read things like 'The Road to Reality', and...

Wrong. Any acceleration of the Earth reduces it's pull on the ball. Thought experiment needed; Take a binary system of 2 planets, one 20% more mass than the other. Your'e standing on the big one. In your reference frame the small one is falling towards you at velocity v. Now jet over and...