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Newton's Second Law, Revisited
eldavojohn writes "Dust off your fundamental physics books, an aspiring astrophysicist by the name of Alex Ignatiev has published a paper that proposes testing special cases of Newton's Second Law on earth's surface. His goal is sort of ambitious. The time he has to test his theory is only 1/1000th of a second, twice each year, in either Greenland or Antarctica. What would he look for? Spontaneous motion. From his interview with PhysOrg: 'If these experiments were to take place, Ignatiev says that scientists would look for what he calls the SHLEM effect. This acronym stands for static high latitude equinox modified inertia and would be noticed in a condition where the forces of the earth's rotation on its axis, and of the orbital force of the earth as it moves around the sun, would be canceled out ... In the end, if Newton's Second Law could be violated, he would be forcing physicists to reevaluate much of what we understand derived from that law — which is quite a bit.'"
Law breakers should be punished to the fullest extent of the physical law.
Maybe he's wrong, maybe he's not right. But damned if I don't admire a scientist who is willing to destroy a potentially promising career over a tiny hunch. Maybe god will take pity and alter gravity for just such an instance. I think he's getting bored with Iraq.
that Newton's Laws are actually just flawed theories? In that case, sign me up for the new "Intelligent Force" theory. Everything accelerates because something smarter than me decided it would, and there's no point asking questions. No more physics equations for me!
Think it'd be cool to visit Greenland?
1. be a prof
2. propose theory that must be tested in Greenland
3. profit
Done.
You can take my gun from me...oh, wait, wrong 2nd law...
The TIMECUBE.
Wh47 d1d j00 541, 31337 15n't t3h r0xor5 ne m0r3???