Why Aren't Laser Beams Bent More When Measuring the Moon's Distance?

[fresh_42]

Not that this article here can compete with mathematical descriptions or "real" physics but it is well written and fast to read and may provide some answers to the repeating questions about the different consequences of mass.

 

[lightarrow]

Not that this article here can compete with mathematical descriptions or "real" physics but it is well written and fast to read and may provide some answers to the repeating questions about the different consequences of mass.

I have read only till it says:
"If Earth had no mass, it wouldn’t feel the curvature of the well and would fly away in a straight line. That’s general relativity in a funnel shaped nut-shell."
This is incorrect: Galilei showed that gravitational acceleration doesn't depend on mass, so even a massless object's trajectory is curved in a gravitational field. The general relativity result is similar, in fact light trajectory is curved in this theory too, just twice as what results from Newtonian mechanics.

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lightarrow

 

[fresh_42]

I have read only till it says:
"If Earth had no mass, it wouldn’t feel the curvature of the well and would fly away in a straight line. That’s general relativity in a funnel shaped nut-shell."
This is incorrect: Galilei showed that gravitational acceleration doesn't depend on mass, so even a massless object's trajectory is curved in a gravitational field. The general relativity result is similar, in fact light trajectory is curved in this theory too, just twice as what results from Newtonian mechanics.

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lightarrow

Sounds correct. But then why aren't the laser beams bent we send to the moon to measure it's distance?

 

[PWiz]

Sounds correct. But then why aren't the laser beams bent we send to the moon to measure it's distance?

They are bent, but by a very tiny amount.