Page 197 - A Life - my Live - my path

My Ariadne’s thread: Science

- In May
- Atoms are real.
Brownien motion experiment.
159
In 1803, the British chemist John DALTON (1766-1844),
who studied chemical reactions, based his theory on the
existence of small, inseparable particles: atoms.

- In June

- The speed of light is constant, whatever the frame
of reference.
-
C = 300.000 km/sec in a vacuum. This is the basis of
special relativity 160 .

After measuring the speed of light with ever-increasing
precision, the measurement error was of the same
magnitude as the potential errors in the installation of
the measuring equipment. At this point, the scientific
community decided to stop measuring and set the value
of the speed of light at 299,792,458 m/s (often rounded up
to 300,000 km/s), calling it "C" for "Celeritas" instead of
"V" for "Velocity".

159 Mathematical description of the random motion of a "large" particle
immersed in a fluid and subject to no interaction other than shocks with the
"small" molecules of the surrounding fluid.
160 Time and space are no longer absolute. The twin paradox explains that time
does not flow in the same way for the twin who remains on earth and for the
twin who travels in a spaceship. Similarly, lengths, widths and heights are
affected by speed (1 m on earth is not the same if measured in a spaceship
travelling at very high speed). The GPS principle also takes these effects into
account. A clock on earth and a clock in a satellite do not indicate the same
time. Corrections are therefore necessary.
185