Scientists Obtain Evidence Earth's Spin Twists Space-Time Around It

[seemslikeadream]

by David McAlary
Washington
22 October 2004

An international research team has found the first direct evidence that the Earth is dragging space and time around itself as it rotates, like a spoon spinning in honey. This swirling of space and time around a massive object was first suggested by German physicist Albert Einstein in his General Theory of Relativity.

Einstein stunned the scientific world in 1916 with his novel notions of space and time. One effect he calculated was that massive rotating bodies like planets distort space and time. He thought they pull space and time along with them as they spin. Physicist Michael Salamon of the U.S. space agency NASA elaborates on the analogy of the spoon in a honey jar.

"If you turn the spoon, you'll see that the honey gets twisted around with the spoon," he said. "The further you are away from the spoon, the less twisting there is of the honey. That's a similar process to what happens with space-time itself near the surface of the Earth. So as the Earth turns, it's actually twisting space-time around with it. Near the Earth, the twisting is greater."

Presumably, any spinning object would do the same, even a ballerina or a flywheel, but with a much smaller impact on space and time.

Einstein suggested a way of measuring the effect. He said a spinning flywheel would impart a twist to space and time that would affect a nearby gyroscope. If a frictionless gyro is placed near the flywheel, its axis of spin, the imaginary line around which the gyro revolves, will be dragged in the direction of the flywheel's rotation.

more
http://www.voanews.com/english/2004-10-21-voa131.cfm

[Richardo]

1. Hey! I saw this story 3 years from now!

:D

[Selwynn]

2. HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA :) :)

[booksenkatz]

3. Is that why it feels like we're living in the Middle Ages?:( nt

[Mojambo]

4. Cool stuff

I would think there could be very interesting research done on this phenomenon.

Neat!

[Kimber Scott]

5. So this means all rotating planets twist space, right?

This stuff fascinates me for some reason.

[slutticus]

6. actually..

...anything rotating will twist space-time.

But only something as huge at the Earth can produce measurable results.

[gottaB]

7. What about a honey dipper?

How would it compare to a spoon?

[slutticus]

10. Hmmmmmm.....

I guess it would just depend on the mass....as far as twisting space-time. But for twisting honey....I really have no clue. I don't even think i've ever seen a honey dipper. :) This question gives me horrible flashbacks from my fluid mechanics classes :scared:

[Walt Starr]

11. Don't forget veloicity

Both mass and velocity have an effect.

An earth sized objoect rotating twice as fast as our earth would exert more forces to distort space-time than our earth does.

[Kimber Scott]

23. Ok. but what time would it be if nothing was rotating, or if things were

rotating slower, or faster? Or, if some things were going one way and other things were going the other way? And, would we know the difference?

On edit: Does anybody really know what time it is? What if it's really yesterday?

[Walt Starr]

27. Time requires motion

IF all motion ceased, time would cease.

:D

[slutticus]

41. But all motion is relative...

...So saying an object isn't moving depends on your reference frame. I don't think you can say that something is completely devoid of motion unless there is some universal reference frame for all motion.

What's fucked up is that as we sit here on the surface of the earth, in relation to a fixed reference frame at the center of the earth, we are actually moving at about 500 meters per second (roughly 1000 mph) because of the earths rotation.

[Walt Starr]

44. Then you have to add other motion on top of that

The earth's motion about the sun, the sun's moton about the center of the galaxy, the galxy's motion as well.

To be honest, about the oly condition where motion would not exist is pre-big-bang. In that condition, there is no time.

:evilgrin:

[slutticus]

45. Check this out...

... http://users.rcn.com/wcri/wcri/absolute%20frame%20text.htm

[gottaB]

21. honey dipper photos

[Walt Starr]

9. Nope, rotational velocity could have an effect as well

Relativistic time distortion factors would have an effect on space time as the rotating obect approaches the velocity of light at the radial vector regardless of teh mass of the rotating object.

[slutticus]

13. OK

If you really want to impress...post the relativistic factors in terms of angular velocity or angular momentum. I prefer angular momentum.

Derive them if you must...but you can't cheat (google)


:)

[Walt Starr]

14. DAMN YOU, DAMN YOU STRAIGHT TO HELL!!!!

LOL, I don't have the time right now. It's 8 minutes before I have to leave to catch my train,

But I'm glad you see the point.

;)

[theophilus]

15. Don't you mean with as much MASS as the Earth?

A rotating quantum singularity would really twirl the honey, I bet.

[slutticus]

16. Yes...I take the term "huge" as being synonymous with "large mass"

What will be interesting is what these findings will do for the theories of what happens to space-time near black holes...which are extremely massive and also rotate.

[Dudley_DUright]

26. Glad you asked!

This was done using observations from the Rossi X-ray satellite in 1997. :-)

November 6, 1997: The next time you feel like you're barely dragging along, blame relativity. You'll be stretching the point, but it appears that Einstein was right: space and time get pulled out of shape near a rotating body.

Einstein predicted the effect, called ``frame dragging,'' 80 years ago. Like many other aspects of Einstein's famous theories of relativity, it's so subtle that no conventional method could measure it.

Using recent observations by X-ray astronomy satellites, including NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, a team of astronomers is announcing that they see evidence of frame dragging in disks of gas swirling around a black hole. The discovery will be announced today at a meeting of the High Energy Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society in Estes Park, Colo., by Dr. Wei Cui of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his colleagues, Dr. Nan Zhang, working at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, and Dr. Wan Chen of the University of Maryland in College Park.

http://science.msfc.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast06nov97_1.htm

[slutticus]

40. Cool!

Thanks for the link!

[RevCheesehead]

8. God only knows what the Media Spin does to Space-Time!!!

[Qutzupalotl]

12. Media spin

twists face time around it.

[Sabriel]

17. Would doing the Twist work? Or must you do a 360?

Forget it, I'll go test it myself.

[Philostopher]

22. You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around.

That's what it's all about.

Literally.

[Occulus]

38. oh, that's priceless

I work with a guy that would get a kick out of that little joke.

[Forkboy]

18. A super cool story!!

Thanks for posting!

[obreaslan]

19. B*sh just came out against this theory...

He claims that the Earth is using scare tactics to influence the vote. He says that if you look at his record, you can see that he has done more spinning and distorting in 4 years than the Earth has done in 5 billion years.

You Can Run, But You Can't Hide!!!! :crazy:

[Eye and Monkey]

34. Chimpie against "Spin"??? Chimpie doesn't "Twist Space-Time"

Chimpie's ALL about THAT. :toast:

[Andy_Stephenson]

20. What about a twirling dervish?

God, all this spinning and twirling has me dizzy.


:hi:

[leftofthedial]

24. Twisted around massive objects, eh?

that explains the maelstrom of unreality that surrounds Rush Limbaugh's fat ass.

[Robbie67]

25. This is a major observation

It tends to verify Einstein's theories.

[kysrsoze]

35. That's all well and good, but does it really have any impact on us?

I consider myself a big science buff, but I'm trying to figure out how it impacts our knowledge about the Universe. I'm sure it will help explain black holes, but I'm wondering if it has a measurable impact on any of our observations. Will we be able to travel in time if we do some kind of superman thing around the world?

[Robbie67]

43. The impact is the verification of Einstein's theory

What might be done with that knowledge is a later consideration.

However, if space-time is warped, somehow, around planetary bodies, it would be fascinating to understand how the imbalance created affects space-time overall.

[MGKrebs]

28. Einstein may have been BORN in Germany, but...

he renounced his German citizenship, and became a Swiss citizen, and later a US citizen.

I would think one of the purposes of renouncing a citizenship is to be able to no longer be referred to as being of that nationality.

:-)

Don't let this happen:

[VegasWolf]

29. That explains it!!! I remember a strong jolt on Nov 2, 2000. Since

then it seems like I'm living in an obscene parody of
the world that I once knew. Wasn't it just 4 years ago
that the US had plenty of money, social issues meant education,
health care, and not gay marriage. The US was respected in
the world. Religious fanatics were overseas, not here running
the country and covering the breasts of bronze statues with
velvet covers. At Halloween, children could wear a little
witch costume if they wanted too. It all seems like a dream
now, maybe it never happened.

New Information Shows Bush Indecisive, Paranoid, Delusional

[seemslikeadream]

32. seems like a dream

That's what I've been saying since Nov. 2 2000

[yella_dawg]

30. So if you built a honkin' huge gyroscope thingy

in space, but still near the earth, would it be a perpetual motion machine??

[Guaranteed]

31. ROFL.

Sure, guys.

[bleedingheart]

33. LIES!!! The Earth is Flat according to the Republicans

[karlrschneider]

36. Not sure this is LBN, but I'm starting a "Meeting Room" thread that proves

that motion does NOT have to be 'relative'!
will edit with URL after I do this amazing thing. :D
edit:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=111x37992

[VegasWolf]

37. On a smaller scale, bush's spin twists reality around.

New Information Shows Bush Indecisive, Paranoid, Delusional

[Fovea]

39. Terry Pratchet

Thief of Time.

[Lurkmcgurk]

42. Superman was right!!1!

when he flew around the earth backwards, to make time go backwards.

Better science through comic books.