sci.physics.particle

Darwin123 wrote:
> [about Hafele and Keating's experiment]
> There is a less extreme position that the 1971 HK experiment
> was a test of general relativity. It was a test of GR only so far as
> SR is part of GR.

This is not "less extreme", this is mainstream -- the H&K experiment can
only be interpreted as a test of GR, because SR is inadequate to analyze it.


> The experimental conditions were set up so the
> difference in gravitational potential was entirely negligible.

This is not true at all. For the eastbound trip the predicted
gravitational effect was 80% of the kinematic effect, and for westbound
it was 180% -- not "negligible" at all!


> This
> was an SR experiment. It verified SR and nothing else.

No. But it did confirm GR.


Tom Roberts