Jury’s still out on the “frame-dragging” business. That’s according to this news report from an academic conference yesterday:
After half a century, seven cancellations and $700 million, a mission to test his theory about the universe has finally confirmed that the man was a mastermind – or at least half proved it.
The early results from Gravity Probe B, one of NASA’s most complicated satellites, confirmed yesterday “to a precision of better than 1 per cent” the assertion Einstein made 90 years ago – that an object such as the Earth does indeed distort the fabric of space and time.
But this – what is referred to as the ‘geodetic’ effect – is only half of the theory. The other, “frame-dragging,” stated that as the world spins it drags the fabric of the universe behind it. Francis Everitt, the Stanford University professor who has devoted his life to investigating Einstein’s theory of relativity, told scientists at the American Physical Society it would be another eight months before he could measure the ‘frame-dragging’ effect precisely.
Not everyone is impressed with the findings – one scientist said the news “would fork no lightning” – just as the NASA project has attracted controversy for decades.
And if you’re looking for a layman’s definition of geodetic effect, give this one a roll:
Just as a bowling ball placed on a trampoline stretches the fabric and causes it to sag, so planets and stars warp space-time – a phenomenon known as the “geodetic effect.” A marble moving along the trampoline will be drawn inexorably towards the ball.
Of course, NASA isn’t using off-the-rack bowling balls. From the Gravity Probe B page at NASA’s site we learn:
“Launched on April 20, 2004, the Gravity Probe B mission is one of NASA’s first to address a question of fundamental physics in the new millennium. … The Gravity Probe B gyroscopes are the most perfect spheres ever made by humans. If these ping pong-sized balls of fused quartz and silicon were the size of the Earth, the elevation of the entire surface would vary by no more than 12 feet.”
Can’t get enough Einstein this morning?
There’s yet another new biography out.
Or you can read Stephen Hawking’s general thoughts on the general theory.
Welcome regulars and passersby. Here are a few more recent Buzzblog items. And, if you’d like to receive Buzzblog via e-mail newsletter, here’s where to sign up.
Vonnegut’s MIT commencement.
Microsoft mum about Gates in space. … Gates-in-Space Watch: Day 3.
YouTube denies aiding Thai censors.
Microsoft is dead, says Paul Graham. … Phooey, says Microsoft exec.
First there’s news of an initial iPod virus … and then we’re talking iPod ban?
How free Web hosters profit from phishing.
Maker of anti-Clinton ‘Net ad revealed, linked to Obama, now jobless
The Onion tees up Vista … hilarity fails to ensue.
