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EINSTEIN WRESTLING WITH AN UNSOLVABLE PROBLEM
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Pentcho Valev
May 24, 2012, 11:39:24 PM5/24/12
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http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/essay-einstein-relativity.htm
John Stachel: "But here he ran into the most blatant-seeming contradiction, which I mentioned earlier when first discussing the two principles. As noted then, the Maxwell-Lorentz equations imply that there exists (at least) one inertial frame in which the speed of light is a constant regardless of the motion of the light source. Einstein's version of the relativity principle (minus the ether) requires that, if this is true for one inertial frame, it must be true for all inertial frames. But this seems to be nonsense. How can it happen that the speed of light relative to an observer cannot be increased or decreased if that observer moves towards or away from a light beam? Einstein states that he wrestled with this problem over a lengthy period of time, to the point of despair."
So "how can it happen that the speed of light relative to an observer cannot be increased or decreased if that observer moves towards or away from a light beam"?
Answer: It simply CANNOT happen. The speed of light "is simply increased by the observer speed, as we can see by jumping into the observer's frame of reference":
http://www.usna.edu/Users/physics/mungan/Scholarship/DopplerEffect.pdf
Carl Mungan: "Consider the case where the observer moves toward the source. In this case, the observer is rushing head-long into the wavefronts... (...) In fact, the wave speed is simply increased by the observer speed, as we can see by jumping into the observer's frame of reference."
http://www.cmmp.ucl.ac.uk/~ahh/teaching/1B24n/lect19.pdf
Tony Harker, University College London: "If the observer moves with a speed Vo away from the source (...), then in a time t the number of waves which reach the observer are those in a distance (c-Vo)t, so the number of waves observed is (c-Vo)t/lambda, giving an observed frequency f'=f((c-Vo)/c) [and an observed speed c'=c-Vo] when the observer is moving away from the source at a speed Vo."
Pentcho Valev
pva...@yahoo.com
John Stachel: "But here he ran into the most blatant-seeming contradiction, which I mentioned earlier when first discussing the two principles. As noted then, the Maxwell-Lorentz equations imply that there exists (at least) one inertial frame in which the speed of light is a constant regardless of the motion of the light source. Einstein's version of the relativity principle (minus the ether) requires that, if this is true for one inertial frame, it must be true for all inertial frames. But this seems to be nonsense. How can it happen that the speed of light relative to an observer cannot be increased or decreased if that observer moves towards or away from a light beam? Einstein states that he wrestled with this problem over a lengthy period of time, to the point of despair."
So "how can it happen that the speed of light relative to an observer cannot be increased or decreased if that observer moves towards or away from a light beam"?
Answer: It simply CANNOT happen. The speed of light "is simply increased by the observer speed, as we can see by jumping into the observer's frame of reference":
http://www.usna.edu/Users/physics/mungan/Scholarship/DopplerEffect.pdf
Carl Mungan: "Consider the case where the observer moves toward the source. In this case, the observer is rushing head-long into the wavefronts... (...) In fact, the wave speed is simply increased by the observer speed, as we can see by jumping into the observer's frame of reference."
http://www.cmmp.ucl.ac.uk/~ahh/teaching/1B24n/lect19.pdf
Tony Harker, University College London: "If the observer moves with a speed Vo away from the source (...), then in a time t the number of waves which reach the observer are those in a distance (c-Vo)t, so the number of waves observed is (c-Vo)t/lambda, giving an observed frequency f'=f((c-Vo)/c) [and an observed speed c'=c-Vo] when the observer is moving away from the source at a speed Vo."
Pentcho Valev
pva...@yahoo.com
Pentcho Valev
May 26, 2012, 2:55:47 PM5/26/12
to
Brainwashing in Einsteiniana's schizophrenic world:
http://www.amazon.com/Why-Does-mc2-Should-Care/dp/0306817586
Why Does E=mc2?: (And Why Should We Care?), Brian Cox, Jeff Forshaw, pp. 32-33: "Maxwell's equations predict that light always moves with a velocity of 299,792,458 meters per second, and there is no place to insert the velocity of the source of the light or the velocity of the receiver. The equations really do seem to assert that the speed of light will always be measured to be the same, no matter how fast the source and the receiver of the light are moving relative to each other. It seems that Maxwell's equations are telling us that the speed of light is a constant of nature. This really is a bizarre assertion, so let us spend a little more time exploring its meaning. Imagine that light is shining out from a flashlight. According to common sense, if we run fast enough we could in principle catch up with the front of the beam of light as it advances forward. Common sense might even suggest that we could jog alongside the front of the beam if we managed to run at the speed of light. But if we are to follow Maxwell's equations to the letter, then no matter how fast we run, the beam still recedes away from us at a speed of 299,792,458 meters per second. If it did not, the speed of light would be different for the person running compared to the person holding the flashlight, contradicting Michelson and Morley's experimental results and our assertion that the speed of light is a constant of nature, always the same number, irrespective of the motion of the source or the observer."
The truth:
1. According to Maxwell's theory, the speed of light, as measured by the observer (receiver), varies with the speed of the observer.
2. The Michelson-Morley experiment is compatible with Newton's emission theory of light which predicts that the speed of light (as measured by the observer) varies with both the speed of the light source and the speed of the observer.
Pentcho Valev
pva...@yahoo.com
http://www.amazon.com/Why-Does-mc2-Should-Care/dp/0306817586
Why Does E=mc2?: (And Why Should We Care?), Brian Cox, Jeff Forshaw, pp. 32-33: "Maxwell's equations predict that light always moves with a velocity of 299,792,458 meters per second, and there is no place to insert the velocity of the source of the light or the velocity of the receiver. The equations really do seem to assert that the speed of light will always be measured to be the same, no matter how fast the source and the receiver of the light are moving relative to each other. It seems that Maxwell's equations are telling us that the speed of light is a constant of nature. This really is a bizarre assertion, so let us spend a little more time exploring its meaning. Imagine that light is shining out from a flashlight. According to common sense, if we run fast enough we could in principle catch up with the front of the beam of light as it advances forward. Common sense might even suggest that we could jog alongside the front of the beam if we managed to run at the speed of light. But if we are to follow Maxwell's equations to the letter, then no matter how fast we run, the beam still recedes away from us at a speed of 299,792,458 meters per second. If it did not, the speed of light would be different for the person running compared to the person holding the flashlight, contradicting Michelson and Morley's experimental results and our assertion that the speed of light is a constant of nature, always the same number, irrespective of the motion of the source or the observer."
The truth:
1. According to Maxwell's theory, the speed of light, as measured by the observer (receiver), varies with the speed of the observer.
2. The Michelson-Morley experiment is compatible with Newton's emission theory of light which predicts that the speed of light (as measured by the observer) varies with both the speed of the light source and the speed of the observer.
Pentcho Valev
pva...@yahoo.com
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