The Mystery of Light Slowing and Speeding Up - www.thefinaltheory.com

[Jack]

In this weeks new scientist there was an advert for the following site- www.thefinaltheory.com

Is what they are saying true because it sounds a bit suspicious to me?

For example it states that;

Q: It is widely known that light slows down when it enters other media, such as water or glass, which is the reason light bends when it does so, but always travels at the maximum speed of light in free space. But how can light slow down when passing through glass then speed up again once it exits?

A: This is impossible according to today's science. No object in nature can speed up of its own accord after being slowed down. A bullet does not spontaneously speed up after being slowed by passing through a wooden block, so how does a photon of light mysteriously return to its original speed in free space once it exits a glass block? Further, continuously shining a light beam through a glass block will heat it up, creating the further mystery that the light beam actually loses energy as it passes through the glass, yet it still manages to accelerate to its original speed upon exit. Today's science has no explanation for this mysterious everyday occurrence.

And I know the answer to this and it is not 'impossible according to today's science'.

 

[LURCH]

I couldn't get the link to work, but based on the example you've provided I'd say you've been very generous in your description (vis: "a bit suspicious"). Anyone who makes the unqualified statement that "...science has no explanation for this...occurance" in regard to the speed of light propogation through verying mediums is less scientifically literate than the average layman, or flat-out lying. Sounds to me as though the makers of this site have an agenda, could you discern what it might be?

 

[enigma]

The link is not working for me.

IIRC, these folks sent out emails a few months back advertising a "Brand Spankin' New Scientific Theory"^TM, and it will only cost you $39.99 to find out what it is.

Yeh. I realized that tallying up their crackpot index wouldn't even be worth the effort. It's easily over 300.

 

[Janus]

Great, yet another electrical engineer out to rewrite physics. Off to TD it goes.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Yikes, even amazon has it for sale:

 

[quartodeciman]

After viewing the beginning and first 25 pages, I think McCutcheon's book is worth considerably less than the asking price of $30 minus a nickel. Wait a while and you can probably get it for pennies.
it has a nice cover photo.

 

[Jack]

So did the link work for any of you because I tested it and it worked fine for me.

 

[Jack]

So what are the simple explanations for these?

 

[Janus]

Originally posted by Jack
So what are the simple explanations for these?

As to how light "speeds back up" after leaving a substance, here is the easiest way of looking at it.

Photons always travel at c. When they enter a transparent substance, however, they encounter molecules/atoms. As they do so, the molecules absorb the photons. When that happens the photons cease to exist.

Then after a short delay, the molecule , re-emits a photon traveling in nearly the same direction as the first. This new photon, upon creation, begins to travel at c until it encounters another molecule.

These slight delays between absorption and emission, increases the time it take from the time a photon enters a substance to the time one emerges form the other side.

This give the impression that light slowed down while traveling through the subtance.
(If you knew that some friends had left their home, which was 60 miles distant from you, at a given time, and they arived at your house 1 1/2 hrs later, It would seem to you that they drove the distancea 40 mph. Even if, while on the road, they drove at 60 mph, but stopped for gas along the way, got a quick bite to eat somewhere, had to fix a flat , etc. )

Light travels though a substance in similar fits and starts.


As to why a substance heats while light travels through it, that is simply because there is no such thing as a perfectly transparent material. Not all the photons are re-emitted after being absorbed.
And that's just for the frequencies that the substance is normally transparent to, there are many frequencies for which the substance isn't transparent.

These absorbed photons are what contribute to the heating of the substance.

 

[quartodeciman]

Janus,

Somewhere an explanation is needed why the re-emitted photons continue along wave fronts just as Young and Fresnel said waves should go, and don't just scatter in all directions. It even works in gases and liquids, not just in crystallized translucent solids.

 

[Hurkyl]

Conservation of momentum.


Consider first an atom in the interior of an object. Far more likely than not, this atom is in some sort of stable equilibrium state with respect to other nearby atoms.

When this atom absorbs the photon, it absorbs the momentum contained in that photon, which changes its state of motion. The atom is no longer in equilibrium! The most likely eventuality is that the other nearby atoms will push it back into equilibrium causing it to emit another photon. Since the net effect is that the atom we were observing has returned to its equilibrium state, it retained none of the momentum of the original photon, and thus the emitted photon must have exactly the same momentum as the original photon (i.e. it travels in the original direction).

For atoms near the surface of an object, it isn't surrounded by other atoms so it doesn't experience quite the same restoring force, which causes the re-emitted photon to either be a reflection of the original, or bent from the original.

 

[Jack]

Thanks Janus but as I said in my first post I knew the answer to that one. It's the others that I don't have a rational explanation for.

 

[Hurkyl]

Gravitational perpetual motion

A key statement in his argument is:

It states that the object would oscillate back and forth endlessly through the tunnel from one end of the planet to the other (neglecting wind resistance).

It should be no surprise that he concludes perpetual motion because he neglects the very thing that would prevent perpetual motion! The reason perpetual motion is "impossible" is precisely because of irreversible effects like friction or wind resistence.


The work function

Yet, as we all know, it certainly takes energy to push a heavy boulder even if it doesn't move or to hold an object in our hands even though it isn't moving.

He has a very narrow idea of what pushing is. He is imagining we walk up to a boulder, put our hands and/or shoulder against it, and tense our muscles in a way that would apply a force to the boulder and the ground. Those actions do require energy... however none of that energy does any work whatsoever on the boulder; it only does work in our bodies.

Still not convinced? Imagine if you simply leaned up against the boulder. Again you're pushing it, but it requires you to spend no more energy than leaning against a wall, and probably requires you to expend less energy than simply standing up.

Every physicist today will claim that there is no energy expended by gravity to constrain the moon in its orbit -- simply because the modified Work Function gives a zero result.

The most clever and concise explanation I've heard of this is:

"Of course the moon is falling towards the earth; it's just moving fast enough so that it misses the Earth every time!"

The main question is why he would think energy would be required. If the moon is moving in a perfectly circular orbit, it's speed remains constant (so that its kinetic energy remains unchanged) and it is maintaining a constant height (so its gravitational potential energy remains unchanged), so the energy of the moon is unchanging. There is no change of energy, so why would he think there should be work done?


Fridge magnet

As we all know, it takes tremendous energy to cling to the side of a cliff, supporting our own weight against gravity, and before long we would tire and fall. Yet a fridge magnet is not glued to the fridge -- it is held there by magnetism, i.e. magnetic energy.

Again, the energy of the system is remaining unchanged, so there is no work being done. (This will be a common theme to answer most of his questions)

The more interesting question to ask is why magnetism and glue should be expected to behave any differently. Or more interestingly, why doesn't the refrigerator simply collapse under its own weight? After all, it must take energy to keep the top of the fridge up there, right?

The physical principle is easy; the force of gravity acting on the magnet is less than the maximum static frictional force possible between the fridge and the magnet.

The magnetic force essentially creates a tiny indentation in the refrigerator in which the magnet holds itself. In order for gravity to drag the magnet down, it would have to further deform the surface of the refrigerator to create a path through which the magnet travels. However, if the magnet is strong enough, the indentation will be deep enough so that gravity cannot deform the surface sufficiently.


Freezing water

The molecular bonds between H2O molecules in ice are peculiar; they like to arrange them in hexagons. This is pecular because hexagons have a lot of empty space between them, so this isn't a particularly efficient space-packing scheme.

When H2O is in liquid form, the molecules are moving around fast enough that they can't settle into the hexagonal pattern. However, at around four degrees celsius, the intermolecular forces between H2O molecules begin to get strong enough to start arranging themselves into hexagons despite the random motion fo the molecules, and as water cools from four degrees celsius to zero degrees celsius, the water will expand as its molecules arrange themselves into these hexagonal shapes.

But freezing water has no energy input at all. In fact, it has just the opposite of an energy input -- energy is continually drained from the water as it cools toward freezing. So then, how does the water suddenly rise up and expand with such force from within that it can easily burst metal pipes?

It is precisely because water molecules have energy that they shuffle around resisting their urge to arrange themselves into hexagons. If you drain the energy out of the molecules, they start arranging themselves into that space-inefficient hexagonal packing and thus the water wants to expand in volume.

Water, incidentally, is a highly incompressible substance, which is why hydraulic systems work. Thus, when the water wants to expand, it is extraordinarily difficult to stop it; in other words, brittle metal piping doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hades; the only way piping could survive is to expand with the water.


Heavy objects on a tabletop

Atomic bonds are said to result from electromagnetic energy attracting and holding atoms together. Yet, there is no denying that tremendous ongoing energy expenditure is required to hold the structure of a table together under the crushing weight of a heavy object resting on the tabletop.

Again, there is no reason to suppose the energy levels are changing.


However, it does require energy to break molecular bonds. Since there's no energy being input into the system, the bonds don't get broken.


Einstein's Special Relativity Theory is all a mistake

Seeing how I can't find any reason why his example should be considered a mistake, any appearance in the SR derivation of his example, nor does he point his finger directly at any flaw in the derivation, there isn't really anything to which I can respond in this section.



Mistakes, logical errors, and coincidence explain experimental evidence.

That title should speak for itself.


The twin paradox

Since all speed is relative, you could just as well consider the Earth to be speeding away from the stationary spacecraft . This is just as valid a view of the situation, yet doing so brings the opposite result -- the twin in the spaceship would be an old man.

Spoken like someone oblivious to the fact that the formulae of SR hold only in inertial reference frames! The asymmetry is clear; one twin has to accelerate and the other does not. The time dilation equations work in one frame (the earthbound frame), and not in the other (the spacebound frame).

If you analyzed the picture in any inertial reference frame, it is clear that the earthbound twin would be older than the spacebound twin when they meet again. This paradox only occurs when you insist on fallaciously applying special relativistic formulae in a non-inertial frame (that of the spacebound twin).


light speed limit

If the electric or magnetic fields used to accelerate the particles can only push the passing particles at the speed of light, then more energy will only fortify the pushes so that they are more firm (more efficient), but cannot alter their inherent speed-of-light pushing speed.

His "explanation" brings up more questions than the question he's trying to answer. Why should a method of acceleration have a limit as to what maximum speed they can impart?


Flying atomic clocks

His argument is based on the same flaw as that of the twin paradox.


Other evidence for Special Relativity

Yes there are, and each of them either have clear logical flaws or simple commonsense explanations other than "time dilation", "relativistic mass increase", or "space-time contraction".

It would be amusing to see his explanations, but I'm certainly not going to pay $30 to do so.


Gak, I am over the post length limit; I didn't know there was one!

 

[Hurkyl]

Big bang

Today’s belief in the Big Bang Theory and the expanding universe has even led today’s astronomers to claim that some type of mysterious antigravity force is pushing the galaxies apart -- faster and faster the more distant they are from us.

Yes; that space is expanding. And the further a galaxy is from us, the more space between us and it to expand, thus if we interpret the expansion as causing distant galaxies to move away, then a further galaxy would be receeding faster.

Such a force has never been observed in any experiment or explained by any scientific theory

Except General Relativity... (Not sure if LQG or ST predict it yet, though I'd presume LQG does so by default since it's based on GR)

However, sound waves are completely different from light. Sound is not pure "sound energy" but compression waves within an atmosphere of air molecules, while light is considered to be a very mysterious form of pure energy, full of "quantum-mechanical" mysteries and paradoxes. Not only is there no clear scientific reason to link the Doppler Effect of sound with the Red Shift of light

Except that the Doppler Effect is a trivial consequence of any event occurring with a regular frequency be it sound waves, light waves, or even an eccentric man rolling a bowling ball at you every second.


But the whole point is moot because it is known that the redshifting is not due to the doppler effect, but is believed to be caused by the expansion of space. (Which, again, would shift frequencies downward for any frequency based event)
E=mc^2

This equation has been largely misunderstood and misrepresented.

I think that's the first thing he's said that was correct.

This one would actually take some equations to prove, so I'll skip covering it to keep in spirit with the (comparatively) simple explanations I've been giving thus far.


Protons in the atomic nucleus

He gives the answer himself; the strong nuclear force, the triumph of Quantum Chromodynamics, and he gives no plausible reason to disbeleive in it.

 

[quartodeciman]

The key to most of this is the universalisation of a muscle version of work and a concomitant necessity for expenditures of energy, which is supposed to just disappear like fuel from a tank.

McCutcheon is just repeating the same kinds of complaints that were issued time and time again against relativity theory and quantum theory during the twentieth century.

Nice job, Hurkyl!

 

[Jack]

As quartodeciman said-

Nice job, Hurkyl!

Thanks.

 

[grounded]

Jack...Think of it as a car driving on a long flat road with the accelerator in a specific position. If a large wind starts blowing in the opposite direction the car is moving, it will slow down. When the wind stops the car will speed up without using more energy.

 

[NeutronStar]

Originally posted by grounded
Jack...Think of it as a car driving on a long flat road with the accelerator in a specific position. If a large wind starts blowing in the opposite direction the car is moving, it will slow down. When the wind stops the car will speed up without using more energy.

Actually grounded, that would be an incorrect analogy. Your analogy implies that the photo is being driven by some sort of force. I think Hurkyl's atom-jumping conservation-obeying photon-matter-interaction is a much better picture of what's actually going on. The photons themselves never actually slow down at all, they simply experience multiple rest stops along the way.

At first I was going to question the momentum conversation since this would seem to violate quantum mechanics (and it most certainly would) if it wasn't for the surrounding environment of the other atoms in the material. The effect of the neighboring atoms is to change the probability densities of where a photo is most likely to be emitted. I should have thought of that myself, but I must confess to be a bit slow at times. I think it has something to do with the neurons in my brain taking too many rest-stops during their meanderings. Stuff like that happens when a person approaches the age of the universe. But that's a whole other theory.

 

[elas]

Re-A: This is impossible according to today's science. No object in nature can speed up of its own accord after being slowed down

The speed of a photon is dependant on the density of the field it is passing through. Therefore a photon exiting a lens is moving from a dense field into a less dense field and will acelerate, only the force of momentum is constant. Photons, like all massless bosons are not subject to drag or friction.
A photon approaching a Black Hole slows down it does not take 'rest stops'

 

[Hurkyl]

A photon approaching a Black Hole slows down it does not take 'rest stops'

Recall that in general relativity, measurements are only required to be locally like special relativity.

In particular this means that an observer next to the photon will necessarily see it moving at c, even if the photon is near a black hole.

 

[elas]

Hurkl
No doubt you are right, but not only do you need to be next to the photon but also on the same concentric in order to observe the speed as C. This seems a bit of a cop out as relativity only works if the observer is on the same plane.

 

[jammieg]

That makes good sense Janus, never thought about it before although I would differ on light being generally emitted in the same direction only that is the direction we generally detect the overall statistical light particles arriving from point a(emitter) to b(detector) of which most have dodged any interaction and a few have interacted and by chance flown off in the same direction as the majority of uninteracted light and would be slower but when I shine my pocket laser through a glass water light deflects in all directions so I would guess that it is random stop and go trajectories and guess that even our best light speed detectors are working on a statistical average of many particles.

 

[Nacho]

Originally posted by quartodeciman
Janus,

Somewhere an explanation is needed why the re-emitted photons continue along wave fronts just as Young and Fresnel said waves should go, and don't just scatter in all directions. It even works in gases and liquids, not just in crystallized translucent solids.

Heh, I'm no Janus for sure, but I know where you could get a partial answer: in Richard Feynman's book, "QED, The Strange Theory of Light and Matter". He talks a little at the back of the book about the photon/electron interactions that cause reflection, partial reflection, and refraction, not in terms of Snel's Law though. I can't do his explanation any justice .. only to tell you that he says the photons are scattered throughout the substance, but that all the scattering cancels out except where the reflection/refraction occurs. And what does and doesn't cancel, he doesn't give so much of a reason other than amplitudes. I kinda liken it to somewhat like a feedback loop. You'd have to read it yourself (I wouldn't recommend buying the book .. it's somewhat of a horrible little book all-in-all .. might be able to check it out of a library).

 

[FinalTheory]

Just discovered this discussion group while investigating what impact my ads and book have had so far. I'd like to respond, straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak:

IIRC, these folks sent out emails a few months back advertising a "Brand Spankin' New Scientific Theory"TM, and it will only cost you $39.99 to find out what it is. Yeh. I realized that tallying up their crackpot index wouldn't even be worth the effort. It's easily over 300.

Nope, not me. I have never spammed anyone during my book promotion campaign, nor been deliberately mysterious about my claims. See my website and judge for yourself. I have run ads in major science magazines and used keyword-based sponsor ads in services such as the Google search engine. This is not a scam, and not another misguided kook. Today's science paradigm is creaking under the weight of its flawed theories and models, and getting worse every day. Truth is, there is nothing crankier than Quantum Mechanics, String Theory, Relativity, the ever-accelerating universe, etc. These are all mere models of observations that have been terribly warped to fit the data and which make no sense. Even the creators and proponents of these theories openly admit this, it is no secret. Models are fine, but the true understanding has clearly still eluded us, which is precisely why many of our top scientists eagerly anticipate a major revolution in understanding known as the Theory of Everything. But even so, I would not be saying a thing unless I had stumbled upon a truly viable alternate science paradigm that actually qualifies, doing everything this hoped-for theory is supposed to do, i.e. clearing up all our current mysteries via one simple principle that runs throughout nature. This is not a kooky, half-baked theory. I have seen them all just as you have, mostly posted in their entirety on personal websites, or making vague claims such as the one mentioned above, with no evidence for their claims. I am doing neither. I clearly state many flaws in today's science, and I challenge anyone to evaluate my claims for themselves. Publishers are understandably just as jaded about such claims as anyone, but nevertheless one publisher has recognized the value of my manuscript and happliy published it and made it available to the public via online orders. I know where the jaded comments in this thread are coming from, but in this case, though understandable, I assure you they are misguided. I am a scientifically educated, sane individual with no delusions of grandeur. I have simply stumbled upon what is very likely the truth about our universe and I am trying to tell the world. Yes, I know how this sounds .. we've all heard it all before, so there is little more I can say without just sounding like "one of them". So instead, let me offer my own answers to the questions being discussed in this thread -- you can decide for yourself if I know what I'm talking about. I am not trying to be hostile or arrogant or mischievious so please don't read any such thing into my comments (as, sadly, often happens in newsgroups), but I must be firm about this. I do have the answers, and today's scientists do not. That's simply the way it is until my book becomes widely known.

I'll make several posts to address all the issues in this thread, since there is a posting limit.


==============

Light in Glass Block

As to how light "speeds back up" after leaving a substance ... Photons always travel at c. When they enter a transparent substance they encounter molecules/atoms ...the molecules absorb the photons ... the photons cease to exist ... this atom absorbs the momentum contained in that photon, which changes its state of motion ... the other nearby atoms will push it back into equilibrium causing it to emit another photon .. traveling in nearly the same direction as the first ... until it encounters another molecule .. There are many frequencies for which the substance isn't transparent. These absorbed photons are what contribute to the heating of the substance.

I see two basic trouble spots here:

Firstly, I do agree that a portion (perhaps even a very large portion) of the heat generated within a glass block would be due to light that is lost to the material and does not emerge at the other end. However, if the conservation-of-momentum argument stated above is to stand, it relies on the assertion that atoms must be jostled back and forth by the photon and neighboring rebounding atoms -- the apparently central argument for how the re-created/re-emitted photon is to be flung off again in its original direction. But the jostling of atoms is known as conductive heat energy. How can this photon (and countless others) jostle atom after atom as it travels through the glass block, and yet either cause no heating or lose no energy in the process of heating the glass molecules?

And secondly, how do atoms "absorb" photons? Today's science often states that a photon somehow gets "absorbed" or "used up" to promote an electron to a higher orbit, then the electron moves back to its original orbit sometime later, again somehow re-creating a photon of light. Precisely how and why an "absorbed" photon of light gets physically transformed into increased kinetic/orbital energy of an electron, and precisely how and why this photon would be re-created from same is never explained. Interesting conjectures or models for consideration, but not unquestionable, established fact no matter how many people repeat it without explanation and no matter how authoritative the source may be. Yes, this is what I was taught too, and what my teachers were taught, and probably even what their teachers were taught, but this doesn't necessarily make it truly sensible and correct. Remaining trapped in this chain is precisely what has left our scientists scratching their heads over mysteries daily and inventing ever more bizarre theories. We are trapped within passable abstract models from a much simpler time that don't truly offer understanding, given credibility by the numerous authoritative sources we have all heard them from. But this has only occurred because these stories have been repeated and repeated over and over until these simple abstract models have become the the defacto "truth", as if they truly offer sensible physical explanations. We are trapped in an entirely wrong paradigm, and will remain so as long as this continues.

===================

Perpetual Motion Machines

The reason perpetual motion is "impossible" is precisely because of irreversible effects like friction or wind resistence.

Not quite. This issue is often a stumbling point because it actually entails two rather different concepts. Firstly, yes, continual unpowered coasting against friction or wind resistance is impossible without a power source -- that is a given, and is embodied in the Second Law of Theromodynamics. But the concept of a perpetual motion machine is that of a mechanism that requires energy to operate, and is somehow driven endlessly by its own internal processes -- producing all the energy it needs to perpetuate itself from within. Clearly an object that is accelerated by a force toward the center of the planet, then decelerated by that same force over and over again endlessly and with no drain on the power source that must exist to drive such a process is indeed an impossible perpetual motion machine. Removal of the atmosphere simply allows this unexplainable mystery in today's theories of gravity to lie wide open to observation without clouding the issue. This issue would be just as much of a mystery if it were perfomed on the airless moon.

=================

The Work Function

Those actions do require energy... however none of that energy does any work whatsoever on the boulder; it only does work in our bodies. Still not convinced? Imagine if you simply leaned up against the boulder. Again you're pushing it, but it requires you to spend no more energy than leaning against a wall.

Can't agree here either. Even Newton gave us the (3rd) law of equal and opposite reaction -- you can't push on a solid object without it somehow forcefully pushing back on you from within (there's that nagging "somehow" again). Both objects push back equally on each other. But regardless, the point is that analysis does not stop simply because the abstract concept of "Work" calculated from the Work Function is zero. When a zero result from this purely abstract Work calculation occurs it simply means that a force did not result in the motion of an object in this case [i.e. Work = Force x (zero)Distance]. It does not mean zero effort or energy was expended by the applied force. Yet today's justification for all sorts of energy expended by Newton's gravitational force tries to get by on precisely that thin, flawed argument -- that no movement means no energy regardless of the powerful ongoing effects of gravity all around us daily. And, as for leaning against a boulder, even if you're just lazily sitting on the ground leaning comfortably back on a boulder, this is the force of gravity pulling you down while you tilt back against the boulder. Where is the power source for this endless force? In fact, how do you even explain being able to sit firmly on the ground rather than your natural state of drifting slowly off into space? Today's science clearly states that an endless force somehow holds you to the ground -- there's that word again .. "somehow". Starting to wonder yet?

 

[FinalTheory]

=================

The Orbiting Moon

Of course the moon is falling towards the earth; it's just moving fast enough so that it misses the Earth every time!" The main question is why he would think energy would be required. If the moon is moving in a perfectly circular orbit, it's speed remains constant .. and it is maintaining a constant height .. so the energy of the moon is unchanging.

This explanation overlooks the concept of centripetal acceleration as well as Newton's 1st Law -- "All objects in motion continue in a straight line unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force". In this case, the external force is, again, Newton's mysterious gravitational force constraining the moon forcefully and continually into a circle -- a very unnatural event for any object in the absence of a force, which, of course, must have a (draining) power source if is to be considered anything other than magic. Saying that the object is simply falling -- end of story -- overlooks the fact that "falling" (i.e. accelerating toward the planet) is not a natural state of objects requiring no further explanation.

As to why I would expect energy to be required to restrain an enormous hunk of rock (the moon) that weighs millions of tons from traveling off in its otherwise natural straight line path past the planet .. well .. seems like a very reasonable expectation to me!

======================

Fridge magnet

Again, the energy of the system is remaining unchanged, so there is no work being done. (This will be a common theme to answer most of his questions)

Yes, again the Work Function abstraction as explanation (or rather, dismissal of the mystery in question). This is simply an abstract equation invented to quantify the amount of energy expended exclusively in the limited scenario where a force clearly does move an object through a distance. The understandable but unfortunate choice to call this result "the Work done" is often then taken to imply that this is the final word on whether any actual energy-driven effort has occured. Of course it takes effort to strain to lift a heavy piano even if it doesn't budge, and it takes effort to hang on to the side of a cliff (or refrigerator) against gravity. Put a block of wood up to your fridge and see how long it stays put when you let it go. What's the difference between that and a magnet? Endless unexplained magnetic energy from within, according to today's science paradigm. Dismissing this with an abstract, invented equation just because the result of this equation has been named "work done" is a huge mistake that dismisses the mysteries right under our noses that point to a greater truth, leaving us trapped in our flawed science paradigm.

The more interesting question to ask is why magnetism and glue should be expected to behave any differently. Or more interestingly, why doesn't the refrigerator simply collapse under its own weight?

Correct, and precisely my point when I mention the heavy object sitting on the solid tabletop. Imagine the scenario where the atoms of the table simply crumble into the finest imaginable atomic powder on the ground under the weight of the object. What would it take to keep this from happening? Atomic "glue"? It takes the electromagnetic energy of atomic bonds (very similar to the fridge magnet issue), which fight endlessly to hold all those atoms together under this enormous strain. Endless gravitational energy pulling down, endless atomic bonds fighting to hold together .. and no power sources in sight for any of this. The entire scenario is an utter mystery in today's science paradigm. In fact, it is such an enormous mystery in such fundamental, everyday events that our science has no alternative than to ignore, ridicule or dismiss anyone who even points it out, rather than admitting its total and complete failure to truly explain. I'm not making fun, but someone has to do the difficult task of yelling above the crowd to point out that the Emperor has no clothes.

=====================

Freezing Water

At around four degrees celsius, the intermolecular forces between H2O molecules begin to get strong enough to start arranging themselves into hexagons ... Thus, when the water wants to expand, it is extraordinarily difficult to stop it

Yes, my point precisely. Water molecules arrange themselves and it is extraordinarily difficult to stop them, and all the while energy is drained from the system -- not added to account for this enormous, spontaneous output of energy. Need I say more?

===============

Einstein's Special Relativity Theory is all a mistake

Seeing how I can't find any reason why his example should be considered a mistake, any appearance in the SR derivation of his example, nor does he point his finger directly at any flaw in the derivation, there isn't really anything to which I can respond in this section.

Have another look at my website .. I do indeed point out both the form of the error (in simplified math as an overview of the type of flaw for clarity) and even the specific lines in a link to Einstein's own derivation where this erroneous mathematical trick must be performed and then hidden from view in the large gap in the flow. You have to look for the missing, improper logic that was deliberately left out, but without which Einstein's derivation could not continue. Take a good look if you're mathematically inclined and you'll see. But there are also numerous other fatal flaws in the derivation that I mention, and that can be seen by anyone who is willing to look beyond Einstein's enormously runaway reputation for a moment and take an honest look at a clearly flawed mathematical derivation at the heart of one of our most bizarre theories of our world. This is not "Einstein bashing", this is honest investigation into an extremely important issue in plain view that has robbed us of a true understanding of our unvierse for a century, and threatens to continue to do so if we ignore it. This is our universe, not Einstein's universe unless his work justifies such hommage. I am clearly pointing out serious fatal flaws in his work that have robbed us of our rightful birthright of understanding. I am merely trying to set the record straight for all of us and return this birthright to each of us. Have a look for yourself at the link to Einstein's own derivation on my website (or see the more detailed expose in the book if you wish) -- either way there can be no trickery on my part in this objective evidence in plain view and there is nothing stopping anyone from taking a good, honest look for themseves to verify my claims.

=====================

Evidence for SR

Mistakes, logical errors, and coincidence explain experimental evidence.

That title should speak for itself.

Yes, that's right. Taken out of context my statement (first quote) can easily be made to sound like a weak, unsupported claim if that's what one wants to achieve sight-unseen, but in context in the book are pages of solid logic to back it up. Presumably we're here to seriously discuss science, not ridicule or dismiss protentially important new ideas sight-unseen.

====================

The twin paradox

Spoken like someone oblivious to the fact that the formulae of SR hold only in inertial reference frames!

Nope, I'm very aware of this, as a closer look at the website will show. The fact is that the Twin Paradox is touted throughout our science as evidence for Special Relativity (SR), not evidence for General Relativity (GR). GR is only ever brought into the issue when people quite rightly point out the clear flaw at the very heart of SR theory that states that no absolute time difference can exist between the twins after the experiment if it is completely relative and arbitrary who is moving and who is stationary (which is, of course, the case during the majority of the thought experiment where the engines are turned off). It is only then that physicists pull out GR in relation to the initial acceleration up to speed and again at the half-way turnaround point, hoping to distract people from the obvious fatal flaw in SR theory, and indeed in this entire thought experiment.

This paradox only occurs when you insist on fallaciously applying special relativistic formulae in a non-inertial frame (that of the spacebound twin).

Again, nope. This thought experiment is widely touted as evidence for SR, not GR. The spacebound twin coasts at tremendous speed through most of the thought experiment except when engines must be fired to accelerate/decelerate. GR is only brought into it as a fudge factor or distraction when people point out the logical flaw at the heart of the thought experiment, as mentioned above. Check this out for yourself. You can't create an SR thought experiment (the speeding, coasting spacebound twin) then claim SR equations don't apply when the clear logical flaw underlying the very experiment is pointed out.

 

[FinalTheory]

================

Light-Speed Limit

If the electric or magnetic fields used to accelerate the particles can only push the passing particles at the speed of light, then more energy will only fortify the pushes so that they are more firm (more efficient), but cannot alter their inherent speed-of-light pushing speed.

His "explanation" brings up more questions than the question he's trying to answer.

An understandable comment from anyone who has not read the book and has no concept of the new paradigm that unfolds clearly and rationally chapter after chapter, leading up to an understanding of magnetic and electric fields by Chapter 4 that clearly explains this statement. I realize this is asking a bit on faith at this point, but it simply isn't possible or reasonable to even attempt to impart the understanding that one gains from reading the book without, well, reading the book. That's just a fact of life that is true of any substantial book, and that's precisely why it was necessary to write the book and present it in its entirety in a clear progression of logic and evidence that unfolds across 6 chapters and 400+ pages. It is not a complicated read, but it is a very comprehensive one that truly rewrites our entire body of physics today, leaving no stone unturned and presenting each new idea within the context of the new paradigm. There would be more questions than answers were any given concept plucked from the book and dropped into a newsgroup posting.

==============

Flying Atomic Clocks

His argument is based on the same flaw as that of the twin paradox.

Again, nope. The time dilation claimed in these flying atomic clock experiments is not said to be due to any initial acceleration up to speed or deceleration/turnaround effect -- the so-called GR explanation that is typically pulled up when the very foundations and assumptions of such experiments are rightfully questioned. If this were the case, why bother continuing to fly for hours and hours in an attempt to prove the SR time dilation effect (which is always the stated purpose and claimed success of these experiments)? Why not just accelerate on takeoff and decelerate again to land right away and show the lone GR time dilation effect? The prolonged flying (or orbiting) atomic clock experiments are billed as proof of SR, yet this very theory applies to situations where objects are passing each other in inertial frames of reference where it is completely arbitrary which object is in motion and which is stationary. How can one particular object possibly age faster than the other -- and be shown to have this lasting effect even after the experiment ends -- when it is completely arbitrary which object we consider to be in motion (and thus slowing its time dimension)? The theory of SR itself has this clear logical flaw at its very heart, as does the mathematical derivation underlying it, as shown earlier.

================

Other evidence for Special Relativity

Yes there are, and each of them either have clear logical flaws or simple commonsense explanations other than "time dilation", "relativistic mass increase", or "space-time contraction".

It would be amusing to see his explanations, but I'm certainly not going to pay $30 to do so

Your choice, of course, but certainly no counter-argument to my claim, which I do support quite thoroughly in the book.

================

Big Bang

And the further a galaxy is from us, the more space between us and it to expand, thus if we interpret the expansion as causing distant galaxies to move away, then a further galaxy would be receeding faster.

Such a force has never been observed in any experiment or explained by any scientific theory

Except General Relativity...

Einstein's so-called "Cosmological Constant" of GR is a well-known fudge factor. It is widely known that Einstein shopped around for opinions on whether to arbitrarily add it in or not, and even backflipped on the issue (his now almost legendary self-proclaimed "greatest blunder", etc., etc.), bending to whatever the data seemed to suggest at the moment. This is not an explanation of observations from a clear understanding of our universe, but merely an arbitrary, invented model that is fiddled and revised to fit whatever the current data may suggest at the moment, with no explanation whatsoever -- a model that violates both common sense and the very laws of physics that today's science is founded upon.

===============

Doppler Effect

Except that the Doppler Effect is a trivial consequence of any event occurring with a regular frequency be it sound waves, light waves ...

This assumes light is a wave, which experiment shows that it clearly isn't, as I mention even on the website (see the laser pointer discussion). When one understands the true nature of light (explained in Chapter 5), the reason the Doppler Effect cannot apply to light is clearly understood.

But the whole point is moot because it is known that the redshifting is not due to the doppler effect, but is believed to be caused by the expansion of space.

Sorry, but until high-school and university educators, currently-used physics texts, and numerous officially-sanctioned science websites stop teaching that redshifting is due to the Doppler Effect, it most certainly is due to the Doppler Effect in today's science. Also, I give ample reasoning, on the website but even further in the book, as to why the concept of expanding space is fatally flawed, both as an explanation for redshifting and as an actual viable physical phenomenon in and of itself.

===============

E=mc^2

This equation has been largely misunderstood and misrepresented.

I think that's the first thing he's said that was correct. This one would actually take some equations to prove, so I'll skip covering it to keep in spirit with the (comparatively) simple explanations I've been giving thus far.

Already discussed briefly and simply on the website, and of course, in rather more depth in the book.

====================

Protons in the atomic nucleus

He gives the answer himself; the strong nuclear force, the triumph of Quantum Chromodynamics, and he gives no plausible reason to disbeleive in it

How about a violation of the Law of Conservation of Energy, as with gravity, magnetism, etc., which I do indeed clearly show on the website.

 

[russ_watters]

Originally posted by FinalTheory
...the abstract concept of "Work" calculated from the Work Function is zero. When a zero result from this purely abstract Work calculation occurs it simply means that a force did not result in the motion of an object in this case [i.e. Work = Force x (zero)Distance]. It does not mean zero effort or energy was expended by the applied force.

I frankly didn't read much of your posts, but this jumped out at me (and you repeated the error in the second post too). Refusal to accept the definitions of concepts like "force," "work," and "energy" will get you nowhere. You could call them "Manny," "Moe," and "Jack" if you want, but in either case, understanding what they are is essential to having the most basic grasp of physics. You have to speak the language to understand what people are saying.

What this means is that every single bit of scientific effort you spend (even if by blind chance you got something right) is wasted because you are speaking a different language than everyone else.

Also, you may not like the definitions we use, but the definitions and the physics based on them WORKS. Its the basis for the technology (such as that computer you are using) of the modern world. GPS for example depends on our CORRECT understanding of a large amount of physics from Newton to Einstein, Maxwell, etc. The fact that a GPS reciever DOES accurately measure position based on the predicitions of those scientist's theories is evidence that the theories work.

 

[FinalTheory]

Let me clear up this misunderstanding of my statement before it perpetuates any further (and thank you for mentioning that you did not read my postings in much detail yet, which may be part of the problem).

Nowhere did I say force or energy don't exist, nor am I playing the game of dismissing standard scientific terms. Let's be clear here. I am, in fact, using standard scientific terms to clear up a very serious misunderstanding that is holding back true progress and understanding. I am saying that it is extremely unfortunate that a function that was invented to quantify the energy expended when a force moves an object through a distance was called the Work Function, and its numeric result called the work done.

The reason this choice of terminology is unfortunate, and often misleading, is because there actually is a very important difference between the term "Work" with a capital "W" and "work" (lower case) as we know it in personal daily experience. I am not dismissing or redefining anything in science in saying this. I am trying to clear up a dangerous confusion of terms that ends up causing millions of people to accept impossible forces that have no identifiable power sources, such as gravity and magnetism. Stick with me here for a moment .. this is important.

As humans, we feel an inherent understanding of the term "work" -- note this is lower-case "work". That is, we expend energy when we work, and if we aren't working this generally conjures up the image of sitting back, doing nothing and expending no energy. This simple, intuitive understanding that we have of the term "work" leads even seasoned scientists to conclude that when we get a zero result from the Work Function (capital "W"), no energy has been expended. This is a very dangerous, misleading situation. All this zero result from the Work Function means is that either

a)no force has been applied at all or
b)a force was applied but didn't succeed in causing any movement (requiring an energy expenditure to explain the applied force nonetheless)

This is a very limited, mechanical definition of "Work" (again, capital "W") in our science, and it in no way should be taken to mean zero energy or effort was expended (in example b). The simple, intuitive feel we have as humans that doing no "work" means we haven't struggled and expended energy leaves many (again, even seasoned scientists) with the mistaken belief that a zero result from the Work Function also then means no energy has been expended. This is untrue, and a very dangerous trap that many fall into.

Feel free to post again on this if my point isn't clear yet. This may seem trivial or nit-picky, but it is actually extremely important.

 

[tozhan]

When this atom absorbs the photon, it absorbs the momentum contained in that photon, which changes its state of motion. The atom is no longer in equilibrium! The most likely eventuality is that the other nearby atoms will push it back into equilibrium causing it to emit another photon. Since the net effect is that the atom we were observing has returned to its equilibrium state, it retained none of the momentum of the original photon, and thus the emitted photon must have exactly the same momentum as the original photon (i.e. it travels in the original direction).

I don't doubt that your right (im not all to good at physics) but can you explain how a massless boson has momentum when the formula for momentum is p = m/v. According to the equation the photons momentum should be zero! Help?!?

 

[Paul Cook]

Energy conservation

I'm a little unclear whether this "Final Theory" accepts or rejects the principle of conservation of energy. Many of the arguments around the propagation of light seem based on the conservation of energy.

However, the arguments around why magnets sticking to fridges, the tops of said fridges, pushing on boulders, etc. seem to disregard the principle -- since if, as the theory seems to claim, such static situations ARE using energy, energy which present theories can't explain, then where is that energy going to? We get tired pushing a boulder because, as mentioned, we are using up energy inside us -- as evidenced by the fact that we get hot. Now magnets sticking to fridges don't get hot, so if energy is being used, where is it going?

It also seems somewhat disingenious to disregard the GR resolution of the twins paradox "problem", merely because the twins paradox is mentioned in a SR context sometimes. If you are to disprove all of modern science, you really need to disprove it as a cohesive whole.

 

[ZelmersZoetrop]

The twin paradox can, in fact, be solved in an SR context. Let's say an astronaut travels from Earth to Canopus (appr. 99 light years from Earth) at speed v[rel]=99/101 c, arriving at canopus at t'=20 years according to her rocket clock, t=101 years according to Earth clocks. This gives a stretch factor y=101/20. Discount acceleration during the trip, and suppose the spaceship turns around as soon as it get to Canopus. The astronaut will see an Earth clock read 3.96 years when arrives at Canopus, but, as soon as she turns around and reverses her velocity with respect to Earth, her line of simultaneity slopes in a different direction as well, so that where she once read 20 years, she now reads 2*101-3.96=198.04 years. Although the Earth clock ticked slowly as she traveled, she perceived it "jump" a good deal of time over the instant she turned around; the image of those clock ticks she had been staying ahead of by traveling caught up with her when she stopped traveling away from earth.

 

[Antonio Lao]

According to the theory of electromagnetism, the speed of light is given by the following.

c = \frac {1}{\sqrt{\mu \varepsilon}}

\mu is the permeability and \varepsilon is the permittivity. Everything in the universe possesses permittivity and permeability include the vacuum.
Their values vary depending on the material or medium. it is the change of these physical variables that causes the change of the speed of the photon in matter and in vacuum.

This implies that at no time does the photon experience acceleration or deceleration during its journey.

 

[Michael Rutherford]

I think this guy deserves some credit...for making us re-think the classical way of thinking. But that's all. Centuries of math calculus simple can't be wiped out overnight. That's as simple as that.

Also, if he really wanted to reshape the world he would have made the book public. Otherwise, a good polemic means better sales figures...

 

[baffledMatt]

I hope I'm not perpetuating a dead thread but:

The twin paradox can, in fact, be solved in an SR context. Let's say an astronaut travels from Earth to Canopus (appr. 99 light years from Earth) at speed v[rel]=99/101 c, arriving at canopus at t'=20 years according to her rocket clock, t=101 years according to Earth clocks. This gives a stretch factor y=101/20. Discount acceleration during the trip, and suppose the spaceship turns around as soon as it get to Canopus. The astronaut will see an Earth clock read 3.96 years when arrives at Canopus, but, as soon as she turns around and reverses her velocity with respect to Earth, her line of simultaneity slopes in a different direction as well, so that where she once read 20 years, she now reads 2*101-3.96=198.04 years. Although the Earth clock ticked slowly as she traveled, she perceived it "jump" a good deal of time over the instant she turned around; the image of those clock ticks she had been staying ahead of by traveling caught up with her when she stopped traveling away from earth.

In fact, you can even resolve the whole thing - accelerations and all - with just SR. It's in one of the usual texts on the subject, but I can't remember which one. Possibly the one by J. Martin.

The point is that SR will quite happily deal with accelerations, just in a flat space-time. If you do the calculation you then get exactly the answer you need - that one twin is actually older than the other on return.

I don't doubt that your right (im not all to good at physics) but can you explain how a massless boson has momentum when the formula for momentum is p = m/v. According to the equation the photons momentum should be zero! Help?!?

You are trying to use the classical (i.e. Newtonian) equation. If you use the correct E^2 = m^2c^4 + p^2c^2 then putting in m=0 for a photon gives you E = pc.

Et voila.

Matt

p.s. I like the fact that this final theory person keeps telling us physicists what we do and don't understand. Surely we already know this?

 

[relative_sceptic]

Twin Paradox question

>

Gravitational perpetual motion
>
>Mistakes, logical errors, and coincidence explain experimental evidence..
>
>
>That title should speak for itself.
>
>The twin paradox
>Spoken like someone oblivious to the fact that the formulae of SR hold only >in inertial reference frames! The asymmetry is clear; one twin has to >accelerate and the other does not. The time dilation equations work in one >frame (the earthbound frame), and not in the other (the spacebound >frame).
>
>If you analyzed the picture in any inertial reference frame, it is clear >that the earthbound twin would be older than the spacebound twin when >they meet again. This paradox only occurs when you insist on fallaciously >applying special relativistic formulae in a non-inertial frame (that of the >spacebound twin).
>
-------------------------------------------------------------

I am not clear on this point, consider this example:-
Say that 2 twins set off from Earth in 2 spaceships, accelerate to the speed of light then swing back around to the earth, one decelerates and lands back on earth, the other carries on in a straight line with no acceleration in any direction. In this case the spacebound twin has experienced no acceleration that the earthbound twin has not also experienced. But the earthbound twin has experienced an extra acceleration/deceleration - now which one experiences the "time dilation"?

 

[baffledMatt]

The question "which one experiences the time dilation" is ill posed. They each will observe time dilation in the other twin's frame. The only question you can then sensibly ask is 'when the twins return to the same frame which one is older?' and this will depend in detail on the accelerations each one has experienced.

Matt

 

[relative_sceptic]

So which one is older, when they return to the same time frame?

Remembering that the traveling twin will experience identical accelerations/decelerations in returning to Earth as the twin who originally returned to earth. The traveling twin will just spend longer in the uniform states of motion in between the periods of acceleration/deceleration.

---steve

 

[Antonio Lao]

The difference between Special Relativity (SR) and General Relativity (GR) is that for SR, reference spacetime frames are in relative uniform motion at constant velocities. These mean that relative acceleration between reference spacetime frames are not allowed. In GR, accelerations and constant velocities are both allowed between reference spacetime frames. And curvature of spacetime is possible only if there is absolute acceleration. This absolute acceleration is hidden inside the mass-energy tensor.

 

[relative_sceptic]

Mmmmmhhhh

So can someone tell me which one is older when they have both experienced identical accelerations on their journeys, but at different times?

---Steve

 

[ram2048]

i don't believe in all that acceleration mumbo jumbo, i believe that time slows as you are in motion.

so let's suppose they accelerated from Earth at the same rate, but on return one instantly stopped and the other kept flying.

at that instant they would be the same age, but the one that stopped would start aging normally again, and the one that kept flying would continue in his rate of "dilated time" depending on the speed.

 

[relative_sceptic]

speed relative to what?
they are both traveling at the same speed relative to each other
In the example I gave they have both experienced the same acceleration forces (but at different times), and have ended up together at the same point at which they started.

How do you choose which one has aged slower?

 

[ram2048]

what follows is ram's theory of time:

time exists only as a function of actions taking place.

if the entire universe stood perfectly still, no time would take place. (or you even if it did you wouldn't have anything to measure it by anyways so...)

when time concerns multiple elements in a closed set, REAL-time is defined as the actions of the object in question versus the actions of every object in the set. if it was two men in space a certain distance apart and one man moves away from the other, the motion of one man would cause time to happen for the other man, and they would both view the motion and time as real. both men would "see" themself moving away from the other man at half the speed compared to the average distance between the two (dunno if I'm explaining that right but whatever).

this part would cover your guidelines, but it excludes the real universe, by creating a "test universe" in which only the 2 guys exist

on a greater existence or set where the whole universe is involved. one man can move away from the other man, and the other man can realize that he is stationary in regards to the rest of the universe and thus the other man retreats at full speed.

consequence of adding a third party to enable "relative" motions

now, here comes the tricky part, REAL-time for us in the universe as part of the set exists in the motions or actions that we take or are exerted on us in relation to the average motion or action of EVERYTHING else in the universe. It functions independantly of whether or not someone is "measuring it"

our PERSPECTIVE-time exists for us as part of the set that exists in our actions or motions etc that exist that are immediately around us and can be measured as phenomena to calculate this time. In order for us to try and realize REAL-time we have to get a bead on as much of the universe and its actions as possible, and measure any of our actions to this whole.

so if you can piece that together you can understand that 2 people perfectly still down to the very molecule and atom in their own universe = no time passing.

as soon as they move time passes, dependant on motion time will pass with the observer feeling the time frame according to his perspective. if only one were to move, they would BOTH age and feel time at the same rate. adding more and more participants makes relative motions more exact (or more pronounced), taking the "average" of everything in motion relative to the whole

 

[Antonio Lao]

There are two types of relative motion. One is covered by special relativity and the other is covered by general relativity.

Special relativity describes uniform relative motion between spacetime reference frames (inertial frames). General relativity describes accelerated relative motion between spacetime reference frames . Only accelerated motion can become absolute. This absoluteness of acceleration can form quantum at the local infinitesimal region of spacetime.

 

[relative_sceptic]

The question was which one ages slower

I see a lot of irrelevant complications and no answer to my question

I suspect that Relativity is unable to distinguish between the two in any meaningful way

I have never seen any argument (including Einsteins) which could justify choosing one over the other

 

[baffledMatt]

The question was which one ages slower

I see a lot of irrelevant complications and no answer to my question

I suspect that Relativity is unable to distinguish between the two in any meaningful way

I have never seen any argument (including Einsteins) which could justify choosing one over the other

All I can say is, go get a good book on relativity and just do the calculation. I would do if for you except that all my GR notes and books are in another country.

Please do this before posting any more specultions of what you 'suspect' relativity might say.

Matt

 

[ram2048]

Say that 2 twins set off from Earth in 2 spaceships, accelerate to the speed of light then swing back around to the earth, one decelerates and lands back on earth, the other carries on in a straight line with no acceleration in any direction. In this case the spacebound twin has experienced no acceleration that the earthbound twin has not also experienced. But the earthbound twin has experienced an extra acceleration/deceleration - now which one experiences the "time dilation"?

that's why i was saying it's not the acceleration but the speed. if they both accelerated to the speed of light at the exact same rate, but one experienced a period of deceleration on return before taking the measurement, the entire period where their speeds were not the same is the calculated part where their times and aging would be different.

if acceleration IS the cause for time dialation, then it can only be measured by RATE of acceleration, because once you stop accelerating and are just cruising at a constant speed, your time would be back to normal.

here's the molecular theory on this one based on electron orbits. basically when traveling at a certain speed, the atoms in an object all get pulled forward because they're connected. electrons have to travel "more" to stay in orbit because of the motion (their orbits have become elliptical relative to the universe, but still circular to their perspective). since they still travel the same rate, but have larger orbits, it takes them more "time" to complete revolutions. at close to light speed, the electrons have a lot of trouble completing revolutions, because the relative paths are stretched out very far.

at light speed, the electrons cannot even complete a revolution because they'd have to travel faster than light to traverse along their path when going forward.

 

[Antonio Lao]

The question was which one ages slower

The one who is accelerating will age slower. This is absolute acceleration not relative acceleration. There is a difference.

 

[Janus]

So which one is older, when they return to the same time frame?

Remembering that the traveling twin will experience identical accelerations/decelerations in returning to Earth as the twin who originally returned to earth. The traveling twin will just spend longer in the uniform states of motion in between the periods of acceleration/deceleration.

---steve

Okay, this is something that, in my opinion, gets overlooked to often when discussing this type of thing, and it leads to a lot of unnecessary confusion.

The first thing to realize is that acceleration does not cause time dilation from the view of the unaccelerated frame. (IOW if you are observing an object that is accelerating, you only have to deal with its velocity at any given moment to determine its time dilation, the fact that it is accelerating has no effect.

Now in the accelerated frame, things are different, If you are in this frame, three factors control how you will measure other objects time rates: the magnitude of the accelleration, the direction the object is with respect to the acceleration, and the distance of the the object.

The second thing is that time dialtion is not something that anyone experiences it is something that you measure as happening in other frames.

Now in your situation, from the Earth Frame, the twin that turned around last ages the least becuase he undergoes the longest duration of time dilation.

From either twins view, Earth time runs fast when they turn around and start heading back (when they are an accelerated frame once they retrun to uniform motion towards the Earth, they will once more measure time running slow on Earth). Since the twin that turns around last is further from the Earth when he turns around, he will measure Earth time as running that much faster during this time. He will return to Earth expecting more time as having passed on Earth than his brother will.

 

[geistkiesel]

I couldn't get the link to work, but based on the example you've provided I'd say you've been very generous in your description (vis: "a bit suspicious"). Anyone who makes the unqualified statement that "...science has no explanation for this...occurance" in regard to the speed of light propogation through verying mediums is less scientifically literate than the average layman, or flat-out lying. Sounds to me as though the makers of this site have an agenda, could you discern what it might be?

i fed my algorithym into my computer which disgorged the following: The authors of the book want to sell copies and make some money.

 

[geistkiesel]

Great, yet another electrical engineer out to rewrite physics. Off to TD it goes.

Even Aggies, electrical engineers at Texas A&M, laugh at this one.