Re: Feo3: Feo: Further Confirmation Of Relativity
Posted by Someone on Oct 09, 2003 at 10:38
(209.47.1.92)Re: Feo3: Feo: Further Confirmation Of Relativity (Feo Amante)
I think where the distinction exists between the GR and Newtonian explanations for the path of an object through space is with the speed of light, which is thought of as a universal constant value. Whereas the speed of an object in orbit is not constant and can vary depending on the masses of the objects involved and their initial velocity prior to entering orbit.
This means that when a gravitation force acts on light, it's overall velocity remains the same, whereas when gravity acts on a much slower mass (the moon, a comet, etc...), the gravitation pull can change the overall velocity of the object.
This distinction means that light (and objects close to the speed of light) will follow a much different path when affected by gravity because it takes much more energy to increment their overall velocity since they are travelling close or at the speed of light.
In the case of light, it's overall velocity vector cannot change so it follows a path through space/time that "compensates" for this. This "compensation" results in a non-Newtonian result for the path of light, but gives a path predicted by GR.
Basically, GR takes into account the theory that no object can travel faster than light, whereas Newton did not. Experimental results later proved Einsteins' theory and predictions to be accurate.
Hope this helps in a non-mathmatical way.