View Single Post
  #701 (permalink)  
Old 13-July-2005, 08:42 PM
jfribrg jfribrg is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: 40N 75W mag 4.1 sky at best
Posts: 1,243
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by A Thousand Pardons
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arneb
ATM, you always seem to be the one who finds the little flaws in my questions.
ATP

Here's an interesting question: Why did they think there was another planet, Vulcan?
The small difference between the predicted and observed orbit of Mercury was attributed to Vulcan. The real problem was that Newton's Laws are only approximate, when you are as close to a massive body (the Sun) as Mercury is, the difference, though very small, is nonetheless measurable. When you use GR instead of classical mechanics, the predicted orbit matches the observed orbit.
__________________
True is the question
Derived from the Shakespeare Postulate (2b)|| !(2b)
Reply With Quote