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Re: Centrifugal force



On 11/18/2003 10:20 AM, Rick Tarara wrote:

If the moon were suddenly sucked into a wormhole and disappeared from
this region of the universe, would the earth feel the effect
instantly or 1.25 seconds later?

Evidently the spirit of the question is that the
moon suddenly vanishes. I don't think a wormhole
is the best way to do that; splitting the moon in
half and sending the pieces left and right to infinity
is a little easier to imagine and serves the purpose.

Anyway, to answer the question: Later.

You can actually derive most of general relativity
in this way: starting with Newtonian gravity and
"patching" it to be consistent with special relativity
(although such a derivation is inelegant and not
recommended).