I have two very naive questions stemming from the fact that, in my world, it doesnt matter if gravitational mass and inertial mass are not equivalent to 1 in 10-15.
Q1. What part of General Relativity breaks down if m_g and m_i are not equivalent? In SIMPLE terms, what happens? In Scientific American or Nova terms, what will have been proved or disproved? How does this manifest itself in the real world? "Black holes cant exist" or something like that?
It wont affect things like Voyager, Magellan, Pathfinder interplanetary probes, will it?
What are some major (but simplified) consequences? Which major GR derived theories will have to be discarded?
Q2. If they actually do claim a NON-null result, will it be easy to publish or will the major journals treat it differently and maybe request independent verification first? As editor, what would YOU do? Maybe ask Luo to let an independent group examine the test masses and lend them to an independent group with an Eotvos balance?
.
|
