[ExI] QT and SR

Lee Corbin lcorbin at rawbw.com
Sat Sep 6 15:30:46 UTC 2008


Mike writes

> On Tue, Sep 2, 2008 at 12:16 AM, Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com> wrote:
>> ("Newton was not at all happy with the idea that gravitation is
>> action at a distance,. because he could not reconcile that with
>> physical common sense.")   [a nice quote I found on line, although
>> I wasn't able to find his exact words on the subject, which are
>> priceless, or nearly so]
> 
> Are gravitational topologies smoothly transformed from one to another?

I would say yes, but I'm not sure of your meaning.  For instance,
if we try to measure the speed of gravitational waves, it can only
be done by continuous process, e.g., two black holes continuously
moving towards or around each other.  Now if we could just cause
a lot of matter to pop into existence some way, (the way we turn
on a beam of particles) then grav measurements would go further
easier.

> Is the concept of an electron shell still valid thinking?

:-)   Actually, I think that people have come to avoid that 
kind of phrase. Me still being pretty literal this morning, it's
not the thinking that's valid or invalid, it's how much criticism
theories have sustained, and how much stuck. The theory
of the electron shell is very much still a part of physics so
far as I know (or modern chemistry, etc.). We believe to
be so that which has successfully stood up to a lot of criticism
over time. So the answer is, "yes, electron shells turn out to
be real", keeping in mind Eternal Truth #2 ("Every statement
needs to be further modified") and that all conclusions are
tentative.

> Pretend spacetime were deformed in discrete units such that the
> new states of gravitation (for example) have effects at distances
> that would otherwise exceed the transfer of information at lightspeed.

Blasphemy. If you believe in SR, nothing can exceed the speed
of light. Ever.  Any way. Inconceivable. 

Lee

> I hesitate to offer any more explanation for fear of obscuring the point
> with murky examples.



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