Are Scientists too narrow-minded?

[Arti]

Given the results of the neutrino tests at OPERA and CERN, which apparently show that the speed of light can be exceeded, do you think that scientists' firm belief that the laws of physics are constant, prevents them from opening their minds to endless possibilities?

[mibn2cweus]

This echos and capsulises what some have already said here with which I agree - Challenging Einstein is usually a losing venture - with an emphasis on 'usually'.

http://hosted2.ap.org...b40e499cf4c474e3df295

[beso]

Jake //Einsteins General Theory of Relativity was once only understood by a few, It was trigerred by an expensive experiment bouncing light between mountains.//

What was that experiement? Michelson-Morley's Experiement was done indoors using an interferometer.

BTW Many assume that Einstein's work was triggered by the Michelson-Morley experiment which showed that the speed of light was independent of the direction of motion. (Indeed it was probably the most famous "failed" experiment of all time as they were actually trying to determine the speed of the Earth through the "Aether". They were left scratchng their heads when it didn't even detect the change during the orbit of the planet around the Sun.)

However Einstein's work was actually triggered directly by Maxwell's Electromagnetic Theory. He realised the implication was that the speed of light was not just a speed but a fundamental aspect of the nature of the vacuum.

I have read that Einstein claimed he was not even aware of the Michelson-Morley Experiment though I don't know if that is true.

[Old_Geezer]

I'm not sure anyone does state that the laws of physics are constant throughout the universe. Only in the observable universe. Beyond that boundary anything could have changed. Although one needs a good reason to think they may be different.

[beso]

One does not need a good reason to think the "constants" might be different. Scientists check anything that might give an insight just in case.

Variations in the constants, however small, would provide an excellent lead to understanding the deeper nature of the Universe.

[jake-the-peg]

I seem to recall the expeiment was repeated between mountain peaks but I may have mis rememberred sice it looks as if it was famously done on Mount Wilson.

Not sure about Michelson/Morely and Einstein - Obviously Maxwells work is hugely important but I'm not sure of what Einstein would have seen in it that illustrated c as a fundamental speed limit.

That seems like a big jump especially when the M-M experiment was 1887 - do we really believe Einstein was unaware of it?

Guess we'll never know but I find it hard to believe.


As for variation of fundamental constants - I have to agree it would be one of the most exciting possible discoveries and would give us a way to start investigating why they are what they are.

[beso]

The speed of light falls out of Maxwell's equations which basically showed that Electricity and Magnetism are two faces of the same thing and that light was a form of it.

In its time it was as big Newton's or Einstein's work. Indeed it took 23 years before it was practically demonstrated by Hertz in 1887. Maxwell deserves a lot more recognition than he gets and I have never really understood why he isn't as famous as Newton or Einstein.

Regarding Michelson-Morley, I have researched this bit now. In his later years Einstein said he could not rememeber if he was aware of the experiment but there are several peices of evidence that suggest he must have been.

However it would have been one of many things that influenced his thoughts. It was probably a practical demonstration that helped him accept what he was perceiving in Maxwell's much earlier work.

Born in 1879, Einstein was a young theoretical physicist in the heyday of the widespread acceptance of Maxwell's field theory and there was a lot of effort going into field theories. He saw well beyond what anyone else had imagined at the time.

We owe these greats enormous gratitude for allowing ordinary people like us to grow up being able to understand this stuff and reap the benefits of the extraordinary technologies based on their work.

[beso]

Jake:

The original Michelson-Morley experiement was carried out at what is now Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Both Michelson, Morley and others went on to build increasingly accurate equipment eliminating every possible error and of course still failed to find the aether drift expected.

Morley never accepted the findings and built a huge interferometer at Mount Wilson which no doubt is what has caught your memory.

http://en.wikipedia.o...0%93Morley_experiment

[Old_Geezer]

You would need good reasons when speculating on how things are in places you will never be able to observe. (Potential future discoveries on how to travel massive distances much much faster than light, excepted.)

[Old_Geezer]

Maybe the guy in the street is less likely to be aware of Maxwell (apart from the Mirror and coffee) because it's something that's difficult to capture the public imagination with. Now the predictions of relativity are going to hold interest. As I recall my past experiences Maxwell mean 4 obscure formulae to learn by heart, and a right hand rule (or was it left hand; I encountered both just to be confusing).