This is the typical definition of the nature of light propagation. A radio signal, according to PBS, is nothing other than a magnetic field changing directions as the current in the transmitter goes one way and then another.
So you think that a radio signal is an example of the indefinite...
From what I understand, the phenomenon of radio transmission requires that a conductor exists within the range of a definite magnetic field. So, the range of the magnetic field depends entirely upon the strength of the current that produces it. All that a receiver is measuring is the "flip...
As I've been studying up on EM radiation, I've come to the conclusion that radio and light waves are not the same thing. Radio seems to be nothing other than a continuously flipping magnetic field (source: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/tryit/radio/radiowaves.html). In this way, there do not seem...
What happens when a single atom emits a single photon?
Does the photon itself exist as a spherical wavefront that propagates in all directions?
Or is it ejected as a tiny, "vibrating ball"?
In other words, is the spherical wavefront of a light source (like a star) just the result of the...
The problem here is that we have two distinctly different ideas of the meaning and significance of "synchronicity". I am convinced that this is all the result of the misapplication of the term "simultaneity" as well as a bizarre use of the word "event". To me, an event cannot be a mathematical...
Lorentz's problem is that he made a fatal flaw in interpreting the MM results: he had a "directional bias"...
He only asked why it was that a light beam shot in the same direction of Earth's motion around the sun yields the same speed as a beam shot in the perpendicular direction. He did not...
You say that you are not talking about my first definition of synchronicity (absolute position) but I still say that you are, and I'll tell you why (I fully admit that I bungled the previous explanation)...
A clock is simply an embodiment of a theoretical construct. In this case, the...
Let me just say that I am not advocating a literal phenomenon of "ether dragging" whereby mass and the ether simply interact with one another. I am thinking more along the lines of the notion that the null result of the MM experiment simply tells us that the ether is perfectly at rest with...
There are two types of "in-sync":
1) The type which deals with absolute position
2) The type which deals with relative rates of change
In the first case, two points can only be "in-sync" if they are the same point. In other words, all we are talking about is the law of identity (aka the...
I'll read up on the phenomenon of stellar aberration. I don't think it'll change my basic point that, assuming that a light-propagation medium exists (which even Einstein assumes), there must be a fundamental relationship between it and the "gravity-propagation medium" (for want of a better...
The null result of the Michelson-Morley experiment led Lorentz to believe that the ether can never be detected because it distorts things in the direction that they move with respect to it. But from what I've read, Michelson himself explained the result by saying that the ether must somehow be...
All of you guys seem to be missing one crucial thing: general relativity. When I invoked the term, "acceleration," that should have clued you in. After all, what does the following statement mean...
(Source: Chapter 18 of Relativity: The Special and General Theory)
In other words...
Okay, so the ultimate point here is that two relatively moving observers will always measure the speed of light to be the same, causing us to have to play around with the "speed" of relatively moving clocks. That only leads us back to the original problem that I had with this thought...
Revisiting the lesson of the "Relativity of Simultaneity"
So, we have the "relativity of simultaneity", which is meant to show us that two relatively moving observers have different notions of the concept of "time", because (as in chapter 9 of Relativity), the person on the moving train will...
It seems to me that all of the talk about "absolute" acceleration is a complete non-issue, in terms of relativistic effects. For, if there is no such thing as absolute position, then there can be no such thing as absolute change in position, whether this change is understood in the sense of...