Gravitational Engineering - A Basic Transceiver

larry

sorry i have no access to any thing related to this type of experiment.

The only gravimeter I've witnessed in operation is in the basement of the Physics Department of Univ. of Maryland at College Park, although I've processed data from other gravimeters with sensitivities of a part in a billion of the local acceleration of gravity.

The Maryland setup has a 500 kg pendulum in an adjacent, sealed room, completely insulated from the gravimeter. The pendulum is used for experiments. However, when the gravimeter is turned on, it is senstitive to changes in gravitational acceleration from any source in any direction. It was using an oscilloscope to display its outputs. And as I walked around the room, it was clearly responding to my every move, showing my path schematically on the screen.

In essence, this means that gravimeters can easily detect the mass in a sealed vault, and any motions going on therein. Such a result would not be news to anyone familiar with these instruments. However, it would probably be news to the generation of physics students who have been given the false impression that changes in gravitational acceleration are gravitational waves. -|Tom|-

tom

what does this mean (i am not an expert in physics i just enjoy thinking on these things),why is this significant?

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=2 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>[north]why is this significant?<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

Some people say that gravity propagates at the speed of light. But all experimental evidence (six independent experiments) indicate that gravitational force propagates much, much faster than light.

Some relativists then point to evidence that gravitational waves propagate at the speed of light, and call this "the speed of gravity". As Larry points out, gravitational waves are too weak to have yet been directly detected in any experiment, and certainly cannot be contributors to the force we normally associate with "gravity". In fact, we now have reason to believe that "gravitational waves" are really just electromagnetic waves of very long wavelength.

In any event, gravitational waves tell us nothing about the speed of gravitational force. -|Tom|-

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[Tom Van Flandern]
... as I walked around the room, it was clearly responding to my every move, showing my path schematically on the screen.

In essence, this means that gravimeters can easily detect the mass in a sealed vault, and any motions going on therein. Such a result would not be news to anyone familiar with these instruments. However, it would probably be news to the generation of physics students who have been given the false impression that changes in gravitational acceleration are gravitational waves. -|Tom|-
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Even if a demonstration like this did not prove that the two are different, it would at least open up the topic to further discussion by more practicing scientists. Questions would be asked.

* Do you remember how big the room was?
* Could it track you anywhere in the room, even the far corner?
* If you ran or walked fast, could it keep up with you?
* Did you notice if it could track anything smaller, like a chair or a book or a shop vacuum?
* How big was it?

I've done some digging on the Internet, and found that there are two types of gravimeters: relative and absolute. Relative gravimeters are spring based. I remember playing with one while working on my physics degree. It was about the size and shape of a coffee can, and could tell which step of a stair case it was on. The output display was a +/- ammeter. I remember noticing a small response to people walking past me, but chalked it up to mechanical vibration (which it probably was).

Ablolute gravimeters are projectile based, and sometimes called "ballistic" gravimeters. I've never seen one, but I suspect that this is what you were working with.

I can't find any info on prices, but from the gross physical descriptions I'm guessing that the absolute gravimeters are more expensive.

Do you know anyone with current experience that might be willing to answer my questions?

Regards,
LB

tom

i have meaning to ask you about this 20 arc sec. of the arrival of photons being not parallel to the gravitational lines of force from the sun to the earth.does this mean there is a delay? also what does this mean for the idea for graviton particles? my idea for gravity was based on earths rotation which gives space direction,therefore gravity (with the atmosphere playing a part as well) seems i might have to revise this idea.i just got the book i ordered from you "pushing gravity" i have not started reading this book yet so perhaps some things will become clearer when i do.
one more question,why is the moon moving farther away from us?the reason i ask is that,could this not apply to earth,meaning could we not be doing the same thing only from the sun?