Quote:
Choobus wrote
Quote:
Sternwallow wrote
You perpetuate the canard that Einstein proved that all of Newtonian physics were wrong. Einstein's gravity did not replace Newton's; rather it showed that Newton's was a special case of a more general understanding covering scales that were quite impractical for Newton. Newtonian physics is still getting our spacecraft to their destinations with astounding accuracy even while the speed of light has to enter the calculations for GPS systems to work properly.
Incidentally, the "G" that sometimes appears in the equations of both Newton and Einstein does not refer to god.
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That's slightly misleading Sterny. It's not so much that Newton's gravity is a special case, it's more like a first approximation. Nevertheless, I'm pretty sure that spacecraft always use the correct relativistic calculations.
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You are right, I dumbed it down a bit for the smaller gauge mind of my audience. I also deliberately didn't elaborate on the relativistic adjustments required for GPS that, every microsecond confirm the time difference caused by the relative velocities of the satellites and the ground. I didn't check so I am not sure, but I think the required GPS adjustment also amounts to ongoing practical validation of the twins paradox.