<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by tvanflandern</i>
In special relativity, the speed of light is constant by postulate, not by measurement. The clocks used to measure the speed must be synchronized in such a way that the speed of light is automatically constant.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
But the postulate is based on experimental evidence. Wouldn't it have been for the null-result of the Michelson-Morley experiment, it would have never been formulated. The point is however that with M-M experiment the velocity is actually not physically defined as all parts of the experiment are fixed relatively to each other, and the assumption of the earth's velocity being in any way relevant is a purely metaphysical one. That's why I am looking for experiments that have been done with the light source and detector actually moving relatively to each other.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by tvanflandern</i>
When special relativity's postulate is ignored, as in the GPS system, the speed of light is not a constant relative a moving receivers.
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I have read actually contradictory statements regards whether relativity has been taken into account for the GPS system or not. In any case, I feel that because GPS is essentially a military project, one should (for obvious reasons) not necessarily trust all the information that has been released in this respect. I would therefore rather prefer the results of a dedicated civil experiment where one can assume that all the information is being laid open.
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