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Text File  |  1992-12-29  |  1.4 KB  |  39 lines
  1. Newsgroups: sci.physics
  2. Path: sparky!uunet!gatech!destroyer!cs.ubc.ca!newsserver.sfu.ca!rs15-annex3.sfu.ca!palmer
  3. From: Leigh Palmer <palmer@sfu.ca>
  4. Subject: Re: General Relativity Tests
  5. Message-ID: <1992Dec29.004800.22768@sfu.ca>
  6. X-Xxmessage-Id: <A764E0895A021C1F@rs15-annex3.sfu.ca>
  7. X-Xxdate: Mon, 28 Dec 92 00:49:13 GMT
  8. Sender: news@sfu.ca
  9. Organization: Simon Fraser University
  10. X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.1.1d16
  11. References: <rsf1.725556854@Ra.MsState.Edu>
  12. Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 00:48:00 GMT
  13. Lines: 24
  14.  
  15. In article <rsf1.725556854@Ra.MsState.Edu> Robert S. Fritzius, 
  16. rsf1@Ra.MsState.Edu writes:
  17.  
  18. >It's my understanding that the  c^2 factor relates to Einstein's view
  19. that
  20. >gravitational effects (static and dynamic) travel at the speed of light
  21. and
  22. >that 'c' in this case represents *the* gravitational propagation speed.
  23.  
  24. You are putting these words into his mouth. Why is that your
  25. understanding?
  26. Surely from a high school level book one should not infer such a subtle
  27. nuance!
  28.  
  29. The formula does, indeed, refer to a particle moving in a static 
  30. gravitational field, that of the sun, and employs the approximation that
  31. the 
  32. sun is stationary. Thus the question of the speed with which that static 
  33. gravitational field "propagates" never arises. The general dynamical
  34. problem 
  35. of two massive bodies (the so-called "Kepler Problem" which was solved by 
  36. Newton for classical gravitational interaction) has not been solved in GR.
  37.  
  38. Leigh
  39.