Re: Age of the Earth


Paul J Gans wrote:
> ck19bla@xxxxxxx wrote:
> >Richard Forrest wrote:
>
> >> No. Gravity distorts *space*. Light still travels in a straight line.
> >> The space which contains it is bent.
> >>
> >> RF
>
> >if the container is bent the stuff *inside* is bent too.
>
> Relativity is not a simple matter. Like quantum mechanics
> it depends on what point of view you wish to take. A
> newsgroup isn't the best place to learn about relativity.
>
> I strongly suggest a book or even doing some googling. There
> are a number of good sites up that will give you an introduction.
>
> That said, you and several others, are switching between the
> viewpoint that mass distorts the space it sits in and the
> viewpoint that space is distorted and we see those distortions
> as mass.
>
> The talk about straight lines is also a bit misleading. Most
> of us think of a "straight" line as a thing with no "bends"
> that can be drawn on a flat two-dimensional surface like a
> piece of paper.
>
> If we define a "straight line" as the shortest distance between
> two points, then we can extend the definition to curved spaces.
>
> For example, take a piece of paper and put two dots in opposite
> corners. Draw a straight line between them. That's the shortest
> distance between the two points. Now fold the paper so that one
> dot is almost next to the other. Now the shortest distance between
> them isn't on the line at all. In fact you have to leave the paper's
> surface completely, travel through a small bit of space and re-enter
> the paper at the second dot.
>
> That's very much shorter.
>
> But if you were constrained to stay on the paper, the line is still
> the shortest distance between the two points -- and is straight!
>
> Of course to your three-dimensional eye the paper is no longer flat
> and the line is no longer straight.
>
> Now, holding the dots almost together, crumple the paper up. What
> I said above still goes although the line, in three dimensions,
> is now *very* distorted.
>
> Now go read about relativity.

I have a 1962 edition of "Einstein's Theory of Relativity" by Max Born.
It covers far more material than my brain can contain....let alone
fully comprehend....at one time.

Excellent book on the subject....well written...however, I am sure that
there are newer sources of material out there.

>
> ------ Paul J. Gans

.

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