Liquidrage

The earth rotates on its axis every 24 hours or the universe rotates around the earth every 24 hours. These have the same effect.

No they dont.
They would cause vastly different effects.

If the universe rotates around the Earth every 24 hours then the speed of observed objects are much vastly then if the Earth it self rotates. In fact, many objects would have to be moving at a velocity much higher then c in order to complete the 24 hour "around the Earth" rotation.

Relativity doesn't just say, "every frame at all places and times are equally valid."

Special relativity did say this for inertial frames.
Generally relativity said, as I mentioned above,
that description is limited in accuracy, duration and locality.

Echo

Is this guy really legit? The site *looks* legit, but the surname "Sungenis" sounds an awful lots like "Subgenius", as in "Church of the Subgenius".

Is this possibly a parody?

Bill Snedden

Unfortunately, no. Mr. Sungenis is absolutely serious.

Bill

Echo

This is a bit off topic, but...

I notice that Mr. Sungenis is a Roman Catholic. I assume the RC Church has its own authoritative interpretation of the verses Sungenis cites as scriptural evidence of geocentrism.

To what extent can a Roman Catholic publicly voice an interpretation of scripture that is in conflict with the Church's own presumably authoritative interpretation and still proclaim himself Roman Catholic?

nogods4me

PMFJIH, this is not my field of expertise, but...

If the earth were not spinning wouldn't having a satelite in geo-synchronous orbit be impossible? what would keep it up?

fando

The only such orbit would be at infinity. As the Earth spins down, a geosynchronous satellite needs to be farther away so that it maintains pace with the rotation of the earth while still being in orbit. So practically speaking, it's impossible.

Interestingly enough, the Earth itself is spinning down but will never stop spinning. It is losing rotational energy to the Moon. The Moon takes this energy and uses it to move a little farther from the Earth. Eventually, the Earth and Moon will be in a tidal lock such that the same faces of the Earth and Moon will be pointing at each other indefinately. The Earth will still be spinning, but it will spin exactly once for every complete revolution of the Moon around the Earth; The Moon will be in a geosynchronous orbit.

Argh, had to edit this a few times.

[ June 15, 2002: Message edited by: fando ]</p>

nogods4me

So the existence of satelites in geo-syncronous orbits proves that the earth spins on its axis?

hey where's my money...

Wonder what gobble-de-gook they would cook up to explain them away?

Mageth

How about prograde and retrograde satellite launch from the earth's surface? Most satellites are launched in prograde orbit to take advantage of the earth's rotational velocity, saving fuel and allowing larger payloads. If the earth was not rotating, there would be no difference. See URL=http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/RetrogradeOrbit.html]Retrograde Orbit[/URL].