A QUESTION OF TIMEGENERAL RELATIVITYThe case against General Relativity is simple. Einstein begins with the idea that gravity acts to produce accelerated motion, and wants to show that this action has the same effect as if it were produced by any other force. The thought experiment he invented to demonstrate this idea is defective, as discussed below. A more careful analysis shows that gravity is a general force which can produce a radically different effect than a specific force producing acceleration, say by an engine, a rocket, or an explosion. Beginning in Chapter 20 of his 1917 Book on Relativity Theory Einstein uses a common sense thought experiment to demonstrate the equivalence of the force of gravity and other, more common known forces, which produce acceleration. His analysis involves a man standing in a box, in the absence of gravitational force, but with a hook and rope attached to the top of the box and an imaginary engine accelerating the box upwards. The man's kinesthetic experience is the same as though the box were standing on earth and gravity were anchoring his feet to the ground. This compelling image is the source of his belief that gravity has the same effect as acceleration produced by any other means. The facts in the experiment are correct - the conclusion is wrong. To bring this point home an alternative thought experiment is offered which stresses the distinction between the force of gravity and other forces with which we are familiar, such as the force of an engine pulling and accelerating a train, or the powder in a gun which accelerates a bullet to produce its muzzle velocity. To distinguish the force of gravity from such other forces consider an idealized experiment in which a train is moving along an embankment on a planet on which the force of gravity is negligible. In one case we let an engine accelerate the train. In a second case we imagine a large body ahead of the train which attracts the train due to its gravitational pull. We can also imagine this second case as a train falling, or racing, to earth. If the train were in uniform motion then it would be valid to compare a walk forward on the train with a laser firing a pulse of light, or a gun shooting a bullet from the rear of the train in the direction of the train's motion. The velocity of the walker, the bullet or the photon remains constant relative to the velocity of the train. But if the train is accelerating because of the engine pulling it this is no longer true. In that case the walker, at each step, is in touch with the instantaneous velocity of the train, so that his walk can remain essentially constant with respect to the instantaneous velocity of the accelerating train. But the bullet or the laser beam do not remain in contact with the train so their velocity will decrease relative to that of the accelerating train as time passes. On the other hand, if the train were falling towards earth, or pulled forward by a large gravitational mass, the acceleration would be due to gravity and the bullet fired from the gun (and possibly the laser light) would also be subject to the continuing force of gravity so the velocity relative to that of the train would be constant as is the case for the walker. This differentiates the case of gravitational acceleration from the force producing acceleration which acts only on the train. In Section 28 of his 1917 book, Einstein states his fundamental principle of general relativity is follows: "All Gaussian Coordinate Systems are identical as far as the formulation of the laws of physics are concerned:" (Alle Gausschen Koordinaten Systeme sind fuer die Formulierung der allgemeinen Naturgesetze prinzipiell gleichwertig). This means that the laws of motion should be the same in all coordinate systems, no matter how they are accelerated. But, as we saw above, the acceleration due to a specific force leads to a different character in the motion of a bullet fired in that system then is the case for a system accelerated due to a general force (gravity). Since the motion of the bullet depends on HOW the acceleration was achieved, it follows that Einstein's conclusion from his thought experiment, as well as his principle, are invalid, and consequently also the theory of General Relativity What is clear is that we have a distinction between a specific force operating on a specific body and a general force, the force of gravity, operating in an undifferentiated way on all bodies, objects, possibly even photons. Since the effects are different in the two cases we cannot claim that the force of gravity is the same as any other force that produces acceleration. The validity of General Relativity, like that of Special Relativity, can therefore be questioned. The explosion of stars, as well as the big bang, are powered by specific forces, in the sense used above. The eventual, possible contraction of the universe is the result of a general force (gravity). It is likely that the alternation in the dominance of these two forces is the source for the oscillatory character of our universe. To summarize also the case against SRT: SRT is based on the Lorentz Transformation which was shown to be mathematically incorrect. SRT also requires that time must be relative, meaning that clocks on two bodies in relative motion cannot be synchronized. Two counter examples to this were presented – one involves two bodies such as sun and earth where there is a periodic orbit in which two clocks can be synchronized at apogee and perigee without the need for simultaneous communication. Another counterexample involved two bodies that are separating at a uniform rate. In that case a two way Doppler signal can be used to generate clock synchronization. It follows, therefore, that both of Einstein’s Theories of Relativity cannot stand up under scrutiny. We must start over where physics took a wrong turn exactly one hundred years ago. Last Revised 12/26/2004 TABLE OF CONTENTS SIMULTANEITY AND SYNCHRONIZATION THE MICHELSON-MORLEY EXPERIMENT APPENDIX I: TYPE 1A SUPERNOVAE APPENDIX II: A EUCLIDEAN MODEL OF THE UNIVERSE APPENDIX III: MASS AND ENERGY
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