AQUESTIONOFTIME.COMHANS J. ZWEIG, PhD Modified 5 - 21 - 09 This web site deals with the consequences of Einstein's Relativity Theories for theoretical physics in the Twentieth Century. All standard textbooks dealing with the subject of theoretical physics, published in the last one hundred years, in whatever language written, and in whatever university used, contain three fundamental errors that can be traced back to the beginning of the Twentieth Century. These errors are exposed in the chapters below. They concern three areas related to relativity: the Lorentz Transformation, The Doppler effect for light, and the concept of simultaneity, so fundamental to Einstein's view of the relativity of time. On this site you will also find a popular summary that deals with the influence of Einstein's Special Relativity Theory (SRT) on 20th century physics - and the logical and mathematical problems that, in the end, invalidate SRT. The detailed analysis of these problems then follows. The consequences for cosmology and for quantum physics, if SRT is invalid, are then examined in some detail. Using mathematics uncritically in physics leads to more severe errors in theory than one could have imagined. Appendix IV has been added to call attention to this fact. Here, it is also shown that the principle that motion is relative is inconsistent with Einstein's belief that the speed of light is independent of the movement of the source. Einstein asserts that light has “constant velocity, c”. But we can ask several questions as to the meaning of this phrase: Is it the same constant, c, at all frequencies – infrared, ultraviolet, x-ray, cosmic ray, radio, etc.? Is it the same, c, independent of the movement of the source? Should we use the same letter, c, when using inch, or foot, or centimeter, in combination with seconds or minutes? It appears in reading his original paper that the answer he would have to give is ’yes’ to all these qustions. But it is shown here that the answer is ‘yes’ to NONE of the above. "Addition" of velocities also leads to important questions. What we often deal with is an entity with a velocity measured with respect to one platform, (in the case light, the platform on which the source is at rest) but we want to measure this velocity with respect to a different platform. We invoke the principle that motion is relative. But we need to differentiate between 'primary' speed and 'secondary' speed. A tortoise does not gain in primary speed by traveling on a fast train (only in secondary speed) and neither does a beam of light. The 'secondary' speed is what we get in reference to a secondary coordinate system or platform. It is the secondary speed that we implicitly and usually deal with. But Einstein does not draw this distinction, and that gives rise to his second (and therefore paradoxical) principle of relativity: "the speed of light is independent of the movement of the source". (See APPENDIX IV: UNDOING MATH) Furthermore, we can ask: if centimeters and seconds, length and time, are subject to expansion or contraction from one platform to another, how can the ratio, c, remain constant, and not be affected? In physics, 'kinetic' energy is mass combined with motion. It takes mass to be affected of gravity. If light is 'pure' energy (what ever that may mean) then gravity can't be the force that bends the light near a star or planet. So then it must be space itself that is curved – or so Einstein maintains in his General Relativity Theory. 'Pure' energy, the energy of light if it has no mass, is an idea without a clear physical meaning. But if light has some mass, then gravity is all we need by way of explaining the bending of light – not General Relativity. THE AUTHOR AT WORK: H.J. Zweig NOTE: THE BOOK "RELATIVITY UNRAVELED, 2005 ANNIVERSARY EDITION", COVERS SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME MATERIAL. U.S. Distributor: Book Clearing House, 46 Purdy Street, Harrison, N.Y. 10528; 914-835-0015, Fax 914-835-0398, e-mail: bookch@aol.com, web site:www.bookch.com See availability also at: Google - "Relativity Unraveled" All contents copyright 1997, 2008, 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2. SIMULTANEITY AND SYNCHRONIZATION 3. THE MICHELSON-MORLEY EXPERIMENT 10. APPENDIX I: TYPE 1A SUPERNOVAE 11. APPENDIX II: A EUCLIDEAN MODEL OF THE UNIVERSE |