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Re: [Phys-L] foundations of physics: Galilean relativity

Here are the calculations for my estimate:
<http://www.anselm.edu/internet/physics/phys-l/deflectionOfLight.pdf>
(Until doubling the result at the end) I treat the acceleration of the photon as being that which any particle at the position of the photon would experience. As such the acceleration of the photon decreases as the photon gets farther and farther from the planet.

If I understand them correctly, John and Moses both think that the acceleration of the photon is the same as that which a particle at the original position of the photon would experience meaning that as the photon gets farther and farther from the planet, the photon's acceleration remains constant at its original value in its original direction. That makes no sense to me.

-----Original Message-----
From: Phys-l [mailto:phys-l-bounces@www.phys-l.org] On Behalf Of John
Denker
Sent: Sunday, October 04, 2015 7:10 PM
To: Phys-L@Phys-L.org
Subject: Re: [Phys-L] foundations of physics: Galilean relativity

On 10/04/2015 02:11 PM, Jeffrey Schnick wrote:

I estimate that for a planet like Mercury, after 10 seconds, the
positronium would fall about about 185 meters below the drop point

So far so good....

whereas the center of mass of the two-photon system would fall about
.6 meters.

Huh? Whatever happened to the equivalence principle?

I don't know how to do the calculation using general relativity so I
used double a classical estimate.

The only calculations I know how to do, classical or otherwise, uphold the
principle of equivalence. The photons drop at the same rate as everything
else.

This has been checked experimentally to very high accuracy ...
parts in 10^12 the last time I checked, although there were plans afoot to do
even better.........
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