RadioBanter - View Single Post

Cecil Moore[_2_] · September 19th 08, 01:54 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.antenna

wrote:
Now I see where you are getting all this sci-fi. Finally. You mistake
a philosophical, abstract ether with the type of physical ether being
inferred in this thread, i.e. the ether that was banished from normal
scientific thought by Einstein in 1905 after publishing the Special
Theory.

Sorry, you are mistaken. Here's a quote of what Einstein said:
"The special theory of relativity does not compel us to deny
the aether. We may assume the existence of an ether, only we
must give up ascribing a definite state of motion to it, ..."

That's what modern quantum physicists have done. No
"state of motion" is ascribed to the particles winking
in and out of existence in the quantum soup of space.

Also quoting "The History of Modern Science":

"Einstein himself, in his application of relativity
principles to the gravitational theory (1915), supposed
that a gravitating body distorts nearby space, and that
these distortions determine the trajectory of a passing
ponderable body. An entity that can distort its shape,
deflect light, and propagate electric and magnetic
disturbances can be called a void only by discourtesy.
More recently, quantum electrodynamics has filled the
void with a vacuum that undergoes energy fluctuations
and acts as a theater for the creation and annihilation
of virtual particles."

If the void was absolutely empty, there would be nothing
there that could be distorted by gravity. Yet we know that
the void is indeed distorted by gravity. Ergo, the void
is NOT empty in the absolute sense of the word.
--
73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com