How to test your Physics teacher about relativity?

How to test your Physics teacher about relativity?
by John Doan 


Zitat:

I’m lucky to learn Physics with a teacher who always tells me what he knows. And what he doesn’t. He told me that he’d been told to tell us that Einstein’s theory of relativity has revolutionized mankind’s awareness of time and space but he didn’t fully understand it.

„Then why do we say it’s the greatest theory?“ I protested.
„Because all our scientists have said it, all books have said it, and all experiments have confirmed it,“ he replied.
„But you said that you don’t understand it?“ I asked.
„Even an idiot can still say he doesn’t understand Einstein, it doesn’t mean Einstein is wrong.“

And it works. I became quiet then, went past Year 12 Physics with top mark, and no one suspected I was an idiot. You see, if you keep your mouth shut or keep praising what others praise, no one would ever know. Does your teacher know you are an idiot? Or the other way, do you have a teacher who claims he understands Einstein? How can you be sure if your Physics teacher fully understands Einstein’s theory or not? And for that purpose, here is a test, any Year12 student can put to his Physics teacher. And be warned, he could fail (unless he has read this book.) . 

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1. What is time dilation?
Einstein’s theory of relativity is about a lot of things. But the most bizarre and for which the theory has become so famous of are its revolutionary concepts about time dilation and space curvature. Being the most crucial, yet the least defined, they have confused so many people for so long that even some scientists have feared to confront their validity. So before let your Physics teacher get away with hundreds of math equations which have nothing to do with our question here, demand him to tell you firstly and in straight words what time dilation is.

2. Does that mean two any identical clocks moving away from each other, would show different readings when being compared to each other after the trip?
Forget about whether time would appear to slow down, or actually slow down during the trip (Who cares? We don’t even know what’d happen when they’re at rest, let alone one is moving). Only ask him what happens after the trip, when two clocks are brought back to compare. Ask your teacher to answer you in straight words, yes or no. Read the section „Interview with Einstein,“ and ask him to explain why different physicists interpret different ways about that concept. Ask him which answer is right, which is wrong, and which is Einstein’s original answer? If the answer is yes, ask him when being compared at rest, which one has a real faster reading than which one? Why is there one faster than another, when both see the other run slower in uniform motion? And remind him, we’re talking only about uniform motion where acceleration is nil, how on Earth would we know which one is moving, and which one is at rest when Einstein already said uniform motion is relative. If the answer is no, then ask what Einstein’s time dilation equation is for? Just for fun or what?

3. What sort of clocks should be used in those experiments?
Would any clocks behave in the same way? Would they run slower at the same rate? And what rate is the real rate for all clocks? If clocks don’t behave in the same way they’re supposed to run according to our equations, would we call them wrong, or that our equations are wrong?

4. What is time?
Your Physics teacher might run over you with hundred carefully-verified time dilation tests, ask him how could we say we have experimentally confirmed time dilation, when we don’t know what time dilation is. Ask your teacher if he or she knows what time is? If he says yes, then ask him why all books written by various physicists and even Professor Paul Davies say they don’t know what it is. If he says no, then ask him then why we can talk about time dilation without knowing what time is? How can we possibly say we have successfully landed on Mars, when we don’t even know what landing on Mars is?

5. Talking about time dilation confirming experiments, ask your teacher what actually those tests have shown?
That time dilation is due to uniform motion or in fact just due to gravitation or acceleration change? Is it possible that time dilation never caused by uniform motion but only by acceleration or gravitation change or even something else? Your teacher might mention about experiments with waterfall clocks, or clocks at different gravity locations. If so, where is the equation?

6. Is Einstein’s time dilation equation self-contradictory?
Einstein’s time dilation equation is exclusively written for uniform motion expressed in the form T/To = f(v). Since uniform motion is relative, we can also say To/T = f(v) and that means T/To = To/T. Does that mean T = To? Time dilation can only make sense if T is not = To. Doesn’t that mean Einstein’s time dilation is self-contradictory? What use can we have for a self-contradictory equation? And if so, does that mean Einstein’s time dilation original equation is wrong? 

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