Science Updates

[boxy]

Now we all find out that there are no black holes .... and get this:

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Dr. Stephen Hawking’s recent statement that the black holes he famously described do not actually exist underscores “the danger inherent in listening to scientists,” Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minnesota) said today.

Rep. Bachmann unleashed a blistering attack on Dr. Hawking, who earlier referred to his mistake on black holes as his “biggest blunder.”

“Actually, Dr. Hawking, our biggest blunder as a society was ever listening to people like you,” said Rep. Bachmann. “If black holes don’t exist, then other things you scientists have been trying to foist on us probably don’t either, like climate change and evolution.”

Rep. Bachmann added that all the students who were forced to learn about black holes in college should now sue Dr. Hawking for a full refund. “Fortunately for me, I did not take any science classes in college,” she said.

Bachmann’s anti-Hawking comments seemed to be gaining traction on Capitol Hill, as seen from the statement by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Chairman of the House Science Committee, who said, “Going forward, members of the House Science Committee will do our best to avoid listening to scientists.”

Satire

The "no black holes" thing is just the usual headline grabbing one liner... I havn't read up on it apart from one or two pop sci articles, but it sounds to me like he's saying that his latest theory on black holes (mushing up relativity and quantum theory) means they're still "real", but the term "black hole" is getting a bit more inaccurate, the more we understand about them.

[Outlaw Yogi]

Well I proved Einstein's famous E=mc2 wrong.

Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared.

Well that'd be fine if light was a constant, but it's not.

If light was a constant, its photons would not be caught by gravity of black holes and get sucked in.

Also if light was a constant, all colours of light would travel at the same speed, but they don't.
Red light travels faster than blue light.

So light has variable speed and Einstein's theory is debunked.

[Rorschach]

c=speed of light in a vacuum RETARD.

[Super Nova]

Well I proved Einstein's famous E=mc2 wrong.

Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared.

This is not my understanding. I would be interested in your assertion being further explored here.

The light speed element of the equation is just a constant that explains the ratio between mass and energy. That is, the units of maths we use to define the ratio and the ratio of what happens to energy and Mass in relation to velocity.

Well that'd be fine if light was a constant, but it's not.

C is the speed of light in a vacuum. so it is a constant for the purpose of the maths.

If light was a constant, its photons would not be caught by gravity of black holes and get sucked in.

It is not that light gets sucked in, It still travels in a straight line but once it get below the event horizon the light cannot escape. Space is bent such that light cannot escape (leaving aside Hawkins radiation due the quantum effects at the event horizon).

I am not sure if they have determine if light has any mass yet, even if it is small. I believe we still calculate things as if light is massless.

Also if light was a constant, all colours of light would travel at the same speed, but they don't.
Red light travels faster than blue light.

Only through a medium do different wave lengths travel at different speeds. In a vacuum, that is no medium it is constant.

So light has variable speed and Einstein's theory is debunked.

Not based the logic above alone.

(I am no expert thou)

[boxy]

If light was a constant, its photons would not be caught by gravity of black holes and get sucked in.

The speed of light isn't slowed by gravity, rather space and time is bent, so that, to an "outside observer" it appears that the speed of light is slowed. But from the "frame of reference" of the light beam, it continues at a constant speed.

That's what Einstein was getting at, when he said "everything is relative". It depends on your frame of reference. What one sees as a distance (space) contracting, others see as time dilating. The thing is, in any frame of reference, the maths still balances out

Check it out. It's beautiful.

[AiA in Atlanta]

So there are black holes but they don't operate the way originally thought, right?

[Outlaw Yogi]

What I was alluding to is that the equaision E=mc2 is only theoretical, as we don't yet have the techno-infrastructure to properly test the theory.

When I went to school (until early 80s) light was considered a constant. Now if light was a constant it would always travel in a straight line (exceptions being reflection & refraction), but the immense gravity of black holes literally bends light. This is because even photons, however minute, still have mass, which is what the gravity affects, and why light gets sucked into black holes. Thus light is not a constant.

As for mentions to vacuum, well that's a moot point, considering space acts as the vacuum.

[boxy]

When I went to school (until early 80s) light was considered a constant. Now if light was a constant it would always travel in a straight line (exceptions being reflection & refraction), but the immense gravity of black holes literally bends light. This is because even photons, however minute, still have mass, which is what the gravity affects, and why light gets sucked into black holes. Thus light is not a constant.

Gravity bends space in this instance, so the light does continue to travel in a straight line. It's just that those straight lines are bent by the mass of the black hole.

[Chard]

What I was alluding to is that the equaision E=mc2 is only theoretical, as we don't yet have the techno-infrastructure to properly test the theory.

Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory would both like a word with you. They've only been designing, manufacturing, and testing mechanical proofs of E=MC^2 that the US Government has used as the basis of our Nuclear Deterrent Force for over six decades now.

When I went to school (until early 80s) light was considered a constant. Now if light was a constant it would always travel in a straight line (exceptions being reflection & refraction), but the immense gravity of black holes literally bends light. This is because even photons, however minute, still have mass, which is what the gravity affects, and why light gets sucked into black holes. Thus light is not a constant.

Think of space as a flat sheet with the large mass exerting gravity in the center of it. When light passes close enough to that mass, the gravity that mass exerts bends space, which in turn causes the light to alter its trajectory. The light is still going in a straight line, space is what is bending. The greater the mass, the greater the gravity and the more pronounced that curvature. Eventually that curvature can become so great that no matter what direction you go all points lead back to the point exerting the gravity.

In the case of a black hole you're dealing with something exerting infinite gravity, which locally turns space into a closed curve, meaning no matter which why the photon goes it's heading for the singularity. At no time does the photon's velocity or trajectory change.

If you'd like a more precise explanation I'd suggest learning German, getting really good at math, and then try and wrap your brain around Einstein's theory of general relativity. Good luck with that.

As for mentions to vacuum, well that's a moot point, considering space acts as the vacuum.

Seriously, and through the vacuum of space, which no outside mechanism interfering with it, the speed of light is a constant. This was stuff I covered in Junior High science class. It isn't rocket surgery, bro.

[Outlaw Yogi]

When I went to school (until early 80s) light was considered a constant. Now if light was a constant it would always travel in a straight line (exceptions being reflection & refraction), but the immense gravity of black holes literally bends light. This is because even photons, however minute, still have mass, which is what the gravity affects, and why light gets sucked into black holes. Thus light is not a constant.

Gravity bends space in this instance, so the light does continue to travel in a straight line. It's just that those straight lines are bent by the mass of the black hole.

So from that explanation I would assume, space rather than just being vacant areas of nothing, is actually particles of something, and that something has mass .. ?