Re: round the world clock experiment

[David Bowman <David_Bowman@GEORGETOWNCOLLEGE.EDU>]

Regarding Eric's question:

> Has there been any confirmation of the round the world clock
> experiment?
>
> Specifically, an experiment is conducted in which one member of
> a pair of identical clocks is sent on a round trip involving any
> combination of accelerations and constant velocity travel,
> while the other stays at home with unchanged conditions.
>
> Has a difference in the elapsed time between the clocks upon return
> of the traveling clock to the home frame been demonstrated?

The GPS system is an ongoing demonstration of this SR effect.  The
only main difference is that the orbiting atomic clocks are not
brought to rest w.r.t. the earth's surface after each orbit and don't
start from rest on the earth's surface at the beginning of each
orbit.  Another effect is that there is also a GR correction due to
the difference in gravitational potential between the orbiting clocks
and the ground-based clocks.

The GPS system is the still the only commonly/popularly used
technological development that *requires* GR corrections to make it
work properly.

David Bowman