Re: Is special relativity falsifiable? (returning to the topic)

From: Harry (harald.vanlintel_at_epfl.ch)
Date: 06/07/04 

Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2004 16:55:41 +0200

"Pentcho Valev" <pvalev@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:bdf02d35.0406052149.5ebe2f20@posting.google.com...
> carlip@no-physics-spam.ucdavis.edu wrote in message
news:<c9th3h$isn$2@woodrow.ucdavis.edu>...
>
> > Pentcho Valev <pvalev@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> > [...]
> > > Why do relativists refuse to propose or even discuss thought
> > > experiments with a possible unfavorable outcome?
> >
> > Perhaps because no one has ever found one.
> >
> > There are rigorous proofs that special relativity is as internally
> > consistent as Euclidean geometry. So if by ``a possible unfavorable
> > outcome'' you mean a genuine internal contradiction, you're wasting
> > your time. If, on the other hand, you mean a result that is not
> > contradictory but is counterintuitive, then, of course, relativists
> > consider such thought experiments all the time -- look at almost
> > any textbook.
> >
> > Steve Carlip
>
>
> The existence of such "rigorous proofs" shows that the mythology
> surrounding special relativity is well developed. The consistency of a
> physical theory should be tested in the context of physical reality,
> by doing either real or thought experiments. In other words, the
> consistency of the theory WITH THE PHYSICAL REALITY should be checked.
> One should constantly look for various setups and physical factors
> that could refute the theory. Have all of them been taken into account
> in those "rigorous proofs"? For instance, as two rods with equal
> proper lengths pass one another, one of them sees the picture
>
> A __________
> B__________________
>
> whereas the other sees
>
> A__________________
> B __________
>
>
> Is one permitted to place some devices on the rods in order to check
> whether the two pictures are compatible? Why don't relativists think
> in that direction? In investigating transverse length contraction they
> enthusiastically install paint brushes at the ends of the rods and
> prove that transverse length contraction is impossible. In one of my
> examples (see the posting "Length contraction impossible again") I
> suggested installing pawls on one of the rods but this time they were
> not so enthusiastic.
>
> Pentcho Valev

Dear Pentcho,
I already told you how to solve it, which is similar to that of the train
and tunnel paradox. Sometimes lack of enthusiasm is due to people getting
tired.
In this case, your attempts to disprove SRT with time-distance thought
experiments is similar to trying to construct a perpetuum mobile on paper -
it's laws of mathematics that you are attacking! Mathematicians (and
all-rounders such as Poincare) recognize that kind of thing sooner than
engineers...

Harald

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Is special relativity falsifiable? (returning to the topic)
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