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  3. Yer cannae change the laws of physics, Jim!

Yer cannae change the laws of physics, Jim!

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  • R Rich Leyshon

    Back in the days when I went to school, when the world was black and white and young ragamuffins spent their days acquiring soot stains from their travels up and down chimneys, I was taught the following: 1) The laws of physics are the same, everywhere in the universe 2) The laws of physics do not change Does anyone have any proof of either of these statements or are they assumptions? Rich

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    Chris Maunder
    wrote on last edited by
    #10

    These are assumptions made in order to allow physics to proceed. Otherwise if the laws of physics were different in different places then abservations we make of things such as the motion of stars and of light become meaningless. It's essentially wishful thinking based on gut feelings backed by reasonable common sense. However recent work has shown that things such as the speed of light may actually have changed over time, leading the possibility that the laws may change over time, may be different in different places, or may simply be beyond what we can currently grasp. Physics is phrustrating.

    cheers, Chris Maunder

    CodeProject.com : C++ MVP

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    • R Rich Leyshon

      Back in the days when I went to school, when the world was black and white and young ragamuffins spent their days acquiring soot stains from their travels up and down chimneys, I was taught the following: 1) The laws of physics are the same, everywhere in the universe 2) The laws of physics do not change Does anyone have any proof of either of these statements or are they assumptions? Rich

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      MarkB777
      wrote on last edited by
      #11

      Well history shows that the laws of physics change as time goes by. I'm confident alot of our physics laws that have been said to be absolute will be proven wrong eventually. After all if we knew everything about physics already we would not still be stuck on this planet.

      Mark Brock Click here to view my blog

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      • K keyboard warrior

        yea yea sum up my 3 lines in 1.... ;P

        ----------------------------------------------------------- "When I first saw it, I just thought that you really, really enjoyed programming in java." - Leslie Sanford

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        PIEBALDconsult
        wrote on last edited by
        #12

        "Omit needless words." -- Strunk :-D

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        • Richard Andrew x64R Richard Andrew x64

          No politicians means no political structure. This means no organized society which is called anarchy. I don't believe anarchy is the solution to war.

          “Cannot find REALITY.SYS...Universe Halted.” ~ God on phone with Microsoft Customer Support

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          Shog9 0
          wrote on last edited by
          #13

          Independent123 wrote:

          I don't believe anarchy is the solution to war.

          Them's fightin' words! :mad:

          Citizen 20.1.01

          'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master - that's all.'

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          • R Rich Leyshon

            Back in the days when I went to school, when the world was black and white and young ragamuffins spent their days acquiring soot stains from their travels up and down chimneys, I was taught the following: 1) The laws of physics are the same, everywhere in the universe 2) The laws of physics do not change Does anyone have any proof of either of these statements or are they assumptions? Rich

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            code frog 0
            wrote on last edited by
            #14

            Doesn't the "Law" part complete the idea? If I remember right Law is higher order than theory and such... been a while though and the physics I enjoy most... well... Law sums it up I think.

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            • H Hans Dietrich

              Rich Leyshon wrote:

              1. The laws of physics are the same, everywhere in the universe 2) The laws of physics do not change

              Maybe in this universe, but in the next one over, gasoline is free, there are no politicians, and hence there is no war. :)

              Best wishes, Hans


              [CodeProject Forum Guidelines] [How To Ask A Question] [My Articles]

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              Lost User
              wrote on last edited by
              #15

              There wasn't any gasoline in 1066, but King Harold got an arrow in his eye in, erm, a war.

              .\\axxx

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              • R Rich Leyshon

                Back in the days when I went to school, when the world was black and white and young ragamuffins spent their days acquiring soot stains from their travels up and down chimneys, I was taught the following: 1) The laws of physics are the same, everywhere in the universe 2) The laws of physics do not change Does anyone have any proof of either of these statements or are they assumptions? Rich

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                Andy Brummer
                wrote on last edited by
                #16

                There are many astronomical observations that agree with those statements. Things like spectra of stars, observed motion of stars within a galaxy and many other observations point to that being true. Those are only observations not experiments The vast majority of all experiments have been done at the surface of the Earth, and the most distant experiments from Earth have all been done with unmanned probes, and all of them within our tiny solar system. The current set of laws for describing the universe has gone from a hand crafted assembly or C++ application to the bloated enterprisy conglomeration of VB modules that is the standard model. Everyone wants there to be something simpler, nobody knows what it is, but perhaps finding it has to do with questioning assumptions like those.

                I can imagine the sinking feeling one would have after ordering my book, only to find a laughably ridiculous theory with demented logic once the book arrives - Mark McCutcheon

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                • R Rich Leyshon

                  Back in the days when I went to school, when the world was black and white and young ragamuffins spent their days acquiring soot stains from their travels up and down chimneys, I was taught the following: 1) The laws of physics are the same, everywhere in the universe 2) The laws of physics do not change Does anyone have any proof of either of these statements or are they assumptions? Rich

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                  Chris Austin
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #17

                  Rich Leyshon wrote:

                  1. The laws of physics are the same, everywhere in the universe

                  We have no reason the believe otherwise.

                  Rich Leyshon wrote:

                  1. The laws of physics do not change

                  My belief is that they do not. However, there are many special cases where established and accepted theories/laws are proven inadequate.

                  Rich Leyshon wrote:

                  Does anyone have any proof of either of these statements or are they assumptions?

                  This really hits at the heart of Special and General Relativity and why Einstein wanted to call it the "Theory of Invariance." I could go on at length because I used to teach Special and General Relativity and love the topics. One could say that the Einstein's entire opus was built upon absolutism and that he dreaded the term "Theory of Relativity." Do a google search on "Theory of Invariance + Einstein" and see what people much smarter than me have written about it.

                  Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long

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                  • R Rich Leyshon

                    Back in the days when I went to school, when the world was black and white and young ragamuffins spent their days acquiring soot stains from their travels up and down chimneys, I was taught the following: 1) The laws of physics are the same, everywhere in the universe 2) The laws of physics do not change Does anyone have any proof of either of these statements or are they assumptions? Rich

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                    Super Lloyd
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #18

                    well, this is true. think of it this way: the universe works the way it does and it's true everywhere the universe works. but the real question is, do we know the law of physics? you can tell it an other way: the law of mathematic don't change. but does our description of the universe is mathematically accurate?

                    A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station.... _________________________________________________________ My programs never have bugs, they just develop random features.

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                    • C Chris Maunder

                      These are assumptions made in order to allow physics to proceed. Otherwise if the laws of physics were different in different places then abservations we make of things such as the motion of stars and of light become meaningless. It's essentially wishful thinking based on gut feelings backed by reasonable common sense. However recent work has shown that things such as the speed of light may actually have changed over time, leading the possibility that the laws may change over time, may be different in different places, or may simply be beyond what we can currently grasp. Physics is phrustrating.

                      cheers, Chris Maunder

                      CodeProject.com : C++ MVP

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                      Super Lloyd
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #19

                      this a communication problem. maybe the speed of light change, mybe this or that change. but the law of physics don't! it's just what we know of them which does!

                      A train station is where the train stops. A bus station is where the bus stops. On my desk, I have a work station.... _________________________________________________________ My programs never have bugs, they just develop random features.

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                      • R Rich Leyshon

                        Back in the days when I went to school, when the world was black and white and young ragamuffins spent their days acquiring soot stains from their travels up and down chimneys, I was taught the following: 1) The laws of physics are the same, everywhere in the universe 2) The laws of physics do not change Does anyone have any proof of either of these statements or are they assumptions? Rich

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                        Bob Beechey
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #20

                        These are simplifying assumptions - an application of Occam's Razor. However, any phycisist worth his salt would love to find that the laws of physics change over very large distances or over large time scales. Physics would become difficult, scarey but VERY interesting. Would this be any different than giving the kiss of life to Schrodinger's cat?

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                        • C Chris Austin

                          Rich Leyshon wrote:

                          1. The laws of physics are the same, everywhere in the universe

                          We have no reason the believe otherwise.

                          Rich Leyshon wrote:

                          1. The laws of physics do not change

                          My belief is that they do not. However, there are many special cases where established and accepted theories/laws are proven inadequate.

                          Rich Leyshon wrote:

                          Does anyone have any proof of either of these statements or are they assumptions?

                          This really hits at the heart of Special and General Relativity and why Einstein wanted to call it the "Theory of Invariance." I could go on at length because I used to teach Special and General Relativity and love the topics. One could say that the Einstein's entire opus was built upon absolutism and that he dreaded the term "Theory of Relativity." Do a google search on "Theory of Invariance + Einstein" and see what people much smarter than me have written about it.

                          Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long

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                          RichardM1
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #21

                          Chris Austin wrote:

                          here are many special cases where established and accepted theories/laws are proven inadequate

                          Aren't most of those cases 'incapable of predicting', versus 'contradictory results'? Plank scale / uncertainty / divide by zero kinds of issues?

                          Silver member by constant and unflinching longevity.

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                          • R Rich Leyshon

                            Back in the days when I went to school, when the world was black and white and young ragamuffins spent their days acquiring soot stains from their travels up and down chimneys, I was taught the following: 1) The laws of physics are the same, everywhere in the universe 2) The laws of physics do not change Does anyone have any proof of either of these statements or are they assumptions? Rich

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                            Ryan Speakman
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #22

                            Interesting article I just stumbled across today on this subject: http://www.reasons.org/tnrtb/2008/06/11/better-clocks-constants-still-constant/[^]

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                            • R Rich Leyshon

                              Back in the days when I went to school, when the world was black and white and young ragamuffins spent their days acquiring soot stains from their travels up and down chimneys, I was taught the following: 1) The laws of physics are the same, everywhere in the universe 2) The laws of physics do not change Does anyone have any proof of either of these statements or are they assumptions? Rich

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                              Reelix
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #23

                              Just read an interesting article... "Would an anti-matter apple fall upwards?" Try Google it - It's quite interesting...

                              -= Reelix =-

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                              • R Rich Leyshon

                                Back in the days when I went to school, when the world was black and white and young ragamuffins spent their days acquiring soot stains from their travels up and down chimneys, I was taught the following: 1) The laws of physics are the same, everywhere in the universe 2) The laws of physics do not change Does anyone have any proof of either of these statements or are they assumptions? Rich

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                                greatM
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #24

                                as einstein put it - god isn't playing dice. 1. universe is running under definite laws. 2. we know them in part. it is our limitation not of laws. 3. they seem to change only when our understanding changes (maybe improves). 4. there is no variation in laws is in iteself a proof.

                                manoj sharma 09313603665 manoj.great@yahoo.com

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                                • R Ryan Speakman

                                  Interesting article I just stumbled across today on this subject: http://www.reasons.org/tnrtb/2008/06/11/better-clocks-constants-still-constant/[^]

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                                  Lost User
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #25

                                  I'll be ..... I just threw out my physics, astronomy and cosmology library and bought a bunch of bibles! And everyone: the Universe was not created by the Big Bing. It took just 7 days for everything to be created and all started on 23rd October 4004BC. I wonder if they had all necessary development permits! "Think of how many religions attempt to validate themselves with prophecy. Think of how many people rely on these prophecies, however vague, however unfulfilled, to support or prop up their beliefs. Yet has there ever been a religion with the prophetic accuracy and reliability of science? ... No other human institution comes close. " - Carl Sagan, The Demon Haunted World.

                                  No trees were killed in the creation of this message. However, many electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

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                                  • R Rich Leyshon

                                    Back in the days when I went to school, when the world was black and white and young ragamuffins spent their days acquiring soot stains from their travels up and down chimneys, I was taught the following: 1) The laws of physics are the same, everywhere in the universe 2) The laws of physics do not change Does anyone have any proof of either of these statements or are they assumptions? Rich

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                                    Colin Angus Mackay
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #26

                                    Rich Leyshon wrote:

                                    Yer cannae change the laws of physics, Jim!

                                    See the problem with this statement is that although it is attempting to effect a Scottish accent it is in fact written using the rules of a non-rhotic accent which the majority of the English speaking world does not use, including Scotland. ;P Just thought you'd like to know. :-D

                                    Recent blog posts: * Introduction to LINQ to XML (Part 1) - (Part 2) - (part 3) My website | Blog

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                                    • R Rich Leyshon

                                      Back in the days when I went to school, when the world was black and white and young ragamuffins spent their days acquiring soot stains from their travels up and down chimneys, I was taught the following: 1) The laws of physics are the same, everywhere in the universe 2) The laws of physics do not change Does anyone have any proof of either of these statements or are they assumptions? Rich

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                                      Lost User
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #27

                                      I like to think of them as guidelines :)

                                      Visit http://www.notreadytogiveup.com/[^] and do something special today.

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                                      • R Rich Leyshon

                                        Back in the days when I went to school, when the world was black and white and young ragamuffins spent their days acquiring soot stains from their travels up and down chimneys, I was taught the following: 1) The laws of physics are the same, everywhere in the universe 2) The laws of physics do not change Does anyone have any proof of either of these statements or are they assumptions? Rich

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                                        Alex C Duma
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #28

                                        1. The laws of physics are the same, everywhere in the universe If you have an apple falling from a tree, you would be able to calculate the time it reaches earth by using Newton's famous equation. However, if the tree is sank under the water the equation would seem wrong. That's because we didn't considered all the other forces present, or, the equation was not complex enough (e.g. for the case we need to consider the relativistic effects). Generally, there is always a broader context that covers all facts, so you will be able to precisely calculate the apple falling under the water. The statement "The laws of physics are the same, everywhere in the universe." would be equivalent to "All that is, is what it is", which would be true. 2. The laws of physics do not change This is acctually the same question as the first. ...so they both are true :)

                                        Alex C. D.

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                                        • R Rich Leyshon

                                          Back in the days when I went to school, when the world was black and white and young ragamuffins spent their days acquiring soot stains from their travels up and down chimneys, I was taught the following: 1) The laws of physics are the same, everywhere in the universe 2) The laws of physics do not change Does anyone have any proof of either of these statements or are they assumptions? Rich

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                                          ayotunde
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #29

                                          things change.nothing is constant.. even laws would change overtime - to make way for change.. people change..attitudes change..governments change..the world will change.. and laws will change..

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