Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: Curvature of Space



\A Stream of Consciousness for your Amusement\

At 16:36 2/19/98 -0500, Joseph Bellina wrote:

...light is deviated by large masses...
[] would light also be deviated by a strong electric field?
....
joe bellina


First the odd-ball response:
It is quite easily demonstrated that light WATER is deviated by
a strong electric field.
(As everyone doubtless knows, a thread of water from the faucet
is easily displaced by a charged balloon or a piece of rubbed
expanded polystyrene.)


But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen
....
That is not it at all,
that is not what I meant at all."
(T.S.Eliot)

... perhaps not, but perhaps we can still get to a point?
What if that magic lantern reflects off a mirror surface of a strong
electromagnet?

Ah yes - a polarization effect at least.
The common wisdom was that there was always a need for some
material intermediary of this sort.

But wait: does not the vacuum allow spontaneous charged pair production?
- just the sort of medium to bend our photons?
- but now I begin to whine about the unspoken ether - so I had better
pipe down at this point :-)


brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>
Altus OK