Einstein's Principle of Equivalence
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This is a Cryptonomicon page for Einstein's Principle of Equivalence. Remember Xeno is Zeno.
Stephensonia
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Authored entries
- Stephenson:Neal:Cryptonomicon:343:just a Gedankenexperiment (Alan Sinder)
- Stephenson:Neal:Quicksilver:165:Zeno's Paradox (Matt Zwolinski)
- Heinlein:Robert:Have Space Suit Will Travel:40:Almost halfway to the Moon, I'd say (Neal Stephenson)
- Gedankenexperiment (Jeremy Bornstein) - Thought Experiment
Community Entry:Einstein's Principle of Equivalence
This is the Xeno's Paradox of Quantum Mechanics. On some level, distance is always halvable. Einstein thought to resolve this by a thought experiment using an imaginary elevator.
If you travelling from point A to point B, you necessarily must travel half of the distance to point B before travelling all of the distance. Now from that point you must again travel half of the remaining distance. If you continue to do so (travel half of the distance) you will never reach point B. I think this paradox is at the crux of the mysterious digital/analog relationship, but it is a strong argument that reality is digital, meaning that it has a smallest unit. This is because one DOES get to point B, thus at some point we must pass an "unhalvable" point.
Related entries
External links
- http://www.newtonphysics.on.ca/EINSTEIN/Chapter10.html
- http://altair.syr.edu:2024/lightcone/equivalence.html
- F. W. Sears, Principles of Physics, Addison-Wesley, p. 267, 1946
ISBN 0738200239 The Einstein Paradox: And Other Science Mysteries Solved by Sherlock Holmes AKA The Strange Case of Mrs. Hudson's Cat by Colin Bruce - he uses a train instead of a elevator but the scheme is the same. Einstein for the Mathphobic.
ISBN 0738205893 Conned Again, Watson! Cautionary Tales of Logic, Math, and Probability: there has never been a more exciting way to learn when to take a calculated risk-and how to spot a scam.