Aucbvax.5781 fa.space utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!space Thu Jan 14 05:00:54 1982 SPACE Digest V2 #79 >From OTA@S1-A Thu Jan 14 03:25:39 1982 SPACE Digest Volume 2 : Issue 79 Today's Topics: Re: SPACE Digest V2 #78 Question on Michelson-Morley experiment ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 13 Jan 1982 0958-PST From: Paul Dietz Subject: Re: SPACE Digest V2 #78 To: Space-Enthusiasts at MIT-MC, SPACE at MIT-MC cc: DIETZ at USC-ECL In-Reply-To: Your message of 13-Jan-82 0302-PST The claim in that news article that life has been in existence on the Earth for only 1/2 billion years is patently false. There is evidence for life going back over 3 1/2 billion years. In fact, it is now thought that it is very easy for life to get started, taking only a few million years. ------- ------------------------------ Date: 14 January 1982 00:26-EST From: Ken Harrenstien Subject: Question on Michelson-Morley experiment To: SF-LOVERS at MIT-AI, space at MIT-MC Apologies to those receiving duplicates. I was reading through a friend's pile of old magazines the other day, and came across a curious statement. In the November 1979 issue of ANALOG there is a guest editorial titled "Beyond Relativity" by G. Harry Stine. It is a fairly standard treatise on Einstein, the nature of science, and so forth, at least until page 161. At that point there is a paragraph which made me blink several times: "And, while it is true that Michelson and Morley did not find the expected 60 kilometer per second differential that would have confirmed the existence of the luminiferous ether, THEY DID FIND A DIFFERENCE OF ABOUT 8 KILOMETERS PER SECOND!" (caps are italics in original) There is more following this, to the effect that these results have been duplicated repeatedly, and it seems as if the speed of light is not, in fact, independent of the motion of the observer! Naturally I am very curious to know what more knowledgeable readers might have to say about this, or the article itself if they can find it. Is the quote, for example, a correct statement of fact? Is G. Stine given to wild conjectures or distortions? (Doesn't strike me that way, though.) Considering the desperate search of SF for holes in the lightspeed limit, I'm a little surprised that Analog doesn't seem to have followed up on that in later issues. Perhaps somebody has already explained it away? --Ken ------------------------------ End of SPACE Digest ******************* ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.