The parallel article contains this ghastly analogy:
Murphy's real motivation is to test Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, which is based on an assumption that gravity affects a feather and a bowling ball in the same manner. You cannot test this in your home, because air keeps the feather aloft.
I forget -- was Einstein the guy who dropped the balls off the tower or the one who was hit in the head with an apple?
From the referenced Apollo Laser Ranging article: From the ranging experiments, scientists know that the average distance between the centers of the Earth and the Moon is 385,000 kilometers with an accuracy of better than one part in 10 billion.
Slashdot Mirror
The parallel article contains this ghastly analogy:
Murphy's real motivation is to test Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, which is based on an assumption that gravity affects a feather and a bowling ball in the same manner. You cannot test this in your home, because air keeps the feather aloft.
I forget -- was Einstein the guy who dropped the balls off the tower or the one who was hit in the head with an apple?
From the referenced Apollo Laser Ranging article:
From the ranging experiments, scientists know that the average distance between the centers of the Earth and the Moon is 385,000 kilometers with an accuracy of better than one part in 10 billion.
Quite a coincidence!