I enjoyed how calmly you all handled it, as if you had known this to be true
all along. Well you probably did know it all along. I should have assumed
that virtually any newtonian law is going fall apart and have to be
redefined at extremis.
Mr. Logan, thank you for your reference. It would seem that a great amount
of effort has be put into insuring conservation in a closed system.
Obviously, though, in an open system energy will always be lost, mostly to
the universe, "universal loss". Would you agree that this fact would apply
not only to energy and velocity of light, but as well to many other
conservable "Laws"? As well, I'm easy to admit that I'm new and poorly
educated compared to most. However, I've read alot and seems these issues,
the consequences and manifestations of the variability of "Laws" in
extremis, are sorely underexplored.
Mr. Uretsky, how wry! You're right, though it's an interesting change of
perspective, or I should say it requires more perspective to be able to see
it in this light. "Your question is backward: where did you ever find a
proof that the "law of conservation of energy" is more than locally true?" I
was led to believe that the word "Law" made it rather universal, and you
must admit it is often taught this way. It's almost solipsistic in nature.
Though as physics, cosmology, etc. breakdown, beyond the mathematics to the
purely philosophical it seems to inevitably boil down to solipsism.
Mr. Sciamanda, alas you recognized my gasp! Your comments sound solipsistic
as well. "It is not a thing or a substantive quantity - it is an abstract
human invention - it is not even
directly measurable, only calculable from other measurements." Though I
appreciate that it requires a reexamination of how physics is instructed to
students. GASP! That actually sounds rather huge! Does it seem as if the
foundation of physics needs redefinition again? I have seen very little work
to incorporate the breakdown of all the fundamental laws into day to day
physics other than just a reference to singularity. As well, it sounds as if
you've hashed out MET (Mechanical Energy Theorem) before, I won't ask you to
rehash, but could you reference?
This seems to be a rather exciting topic. I'm probably not nearly as
educated as most of the readers on this list but I find the fact that these
"Laws" fail quickly in extremis an interesting proposition as it would seem
to have consequences throughout physics. Even on the local scale where
conservation is well documented.