In Galileo Galilei’s book, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, he outlines a thought experiment that is to take place on a typical wooden ship of his time. This experiment illustrates a principle of projectiles in motion and describes the hidden nature of forces and motion. It introduces his principle of relativity that has come down to us as Einstein’s postulate of absolute motion from his Special Relativity Theory (STR).
Quotes from the book:
“…Shut yourself up with some friend in the main cabin below decks on some large ship, and have with you there some flies, butterflies, and other small flying animals…”
“…have the ship proceed with any speed, so long as the motion is uniform and not fluctuating this way and that. You will discover not the least change in all the effects named, nor could you tell from any of them whether the ship was moving or standing still…”
“…This is why you should be below decks; for if this took place in the open air, which would not follow the course of the ship, more or less noticeable differences would be seen in some of the effects noted…”
This is the point where I am trying to drive my shoulder into. Galileo indicates that if his ship experiment is conducted above decks, then the air would have a negligible effect on the outcome. I think my thought experiment is trying to turn this minor observable effect into an experimentally measurable phenomenon.
In so doing, I think a new state of motion is defined. It is not absolute motion, it is not relative motion; but is an intermediary state of motion that crosses the line of unobservable information between reference frames.
It involves the formula from the Michelson-Morley experiment to detect the aether. By taking apart the component parts of this formula, and combining them with the results of data from experimental measurements, a new perspective of the formula can be obtained. This defines a new state of physical motion. The speed of sound, c, is so much less than the speed of light, c; I don’t think that there will be any undue influence by Relativistic effects.
Quotes from the book:
“…Shut yourself up with some friend in the main cabin below decks on some large ship, and have with you there some flies, butterflies, and other small flying animals…”
“…have the ship proceed with any speed, so long as the motion is uniform and not fluctuating this way and that. You will discover not the least change in all the effects named, nor could you tell from any of them whether the ship was moving or standing still…”
“…This is why you should be below decks; for if this took place in the open air, which would not follow the course of the ship, more or less noticeable differences would be seen in some of the effects noted…”
This is the point where I am trying to drive my shoulder into. Galileo indicates that if his ship experiment is conducted above decks, then the air would have a negligible effect on the outcome. I think my thought experiment is trying to turn this minor observable effect into an experimentally measurable phenomenon.
In so doing, I think a new state of motion is defined. It is not absolute motion, it is not relative motion; but is an intermediary state of motion that crosses the line of unobservable information between reference frames.
It involves the formula from the Michelson-Morley experiment to detect the aether. By taking apart the component parts of this formula, and combining them with the results of data from experimental measurements, a new perspective of the formula can be obtained. This defines a new state of physical motion. The speed of sound, c, is so much less than the speed of light, c; I don’t think that there will be any undue influence by Relativistic effects.
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