Re: inertia of 'electron stuff'

[Leigh Palmer <palmer@sfu.ca>]

> It appears to me that if we appeal to the principle of equivalence,
> one may dispense with the copper tube, for the electric field
> is associated with the 'one gee' acceleration, no matter what!

If there were no other electric fields around the copper tube would
not be needed to shield the electrons from them. Since it is now
evident that even the presence of an uncharged conductor in the
vicinity will produce a significant electric field, you can see how
difficult it will be to produce a field free region of space.

I don't know if Fairbank ever tried to "buck" the gravitationally
induced electric field by passing an electric current through the
copper tube in the direction opposing the field. It would seem like
a reasonable thing to try.

Leigh