The Paradox of Zeno



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Topic: Science > Physics
User: "Kcab"
Date: 25 Apr 2005 09:52:08 AM
Object: The Paradox of Zeno
The Paradox of Zeno
"Great spirits have always encountered violent oppositions from mediocre
minds." - A. Einstein
The Paradox of Zeno is 2000 years old and its apparent ability to prove
that all motion is impossible was not resolved until the mathematical
techniques of Calculus became available, even though that technique is not
required. One form of the paradox describes the flight of an arrow which has
been shot at a target. The arrow is shot at a constant velocity, V, to a
target at a distance, L, and the time of flight is divided into intervals.
In the first interval, the arrow covers half of the distance to the target
and, in each succeeding interval of time, it covers half of the remaining
distance. Under the line of reasoning presented, the arrow never reaches the
target because, after each successive interval of time, one half of the
distance to the target that existed at the beginning of the interval
remains.
The author finds it incredible that this paradox has been taken
seriously by intelligent men for over two millennia and has not been
recognized as a form of trickery. If one accepts that in each successive
interval of time the arrow traveled half of the remaining distance to the
target, he must also accept that each of those successive intervals of time
is half of the duration of the interval which preceded it. As a result,
under the Paradox of Zeno, not only does the arrow never reach the target,
the elapsed time of its flight never reaches the time, T, when the arrow
would reach the target.
There is no paradox in the Paradox of the Zeno. As long as one allows a
cheap trick to fool him into considering only those events which occur prior
to the arrival of the arrow at the target, he most certainly will believe
that the arrow never reaches the target. The reality is that THE PASSAGE OF
TIME DOES NOT SLOW AS THE ARROW APPROACHES THE TARGET AND THE ARROW REACHES
THE TARGET WHEN IT SHOULD.
To find the Paradox of Zeno be seriously considered as a topic which
requires a level of mathematics beyond simple arithmetic for its resolution
should lead a reasonable man to have serious doubts as to the mental
capacity of the individuals who are engaged in the teaching process.
The source material for this posting may be found in "Gravity" (1987),
"The Einstein Hoax" (1997), and "Corrections to Residual Errors in Special
Relativity (1999) located at
http://members.isp.com/
/einsteinhoax/site.htm .
EVERYTHING WHICH WE ACCEPT AS TRUE MUST BE CONSISTENT WITH EVERYTHING ELSE
WE HAVE ACCEPTED AS TRUE, IT MUST BE CONSISTENT WITH ALL OBSERVATIONS, AND
IT MUST BE MATHEMATICALLY VIABLE. PRESENT TEACHINGS DO NOT ALWAYS MEET THIS
REQUIREMENT. THE WORLD IS ENTITLED TO A HIGHER STANDARD OF WORKMANSHIP FROM
THOSE IT HAS GRANTED WORLD CLASS STATUS.
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please do not raise objections that are not related to material that you
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The material at the Website has been posted continuously for over 5
years. In that time THERE HAVE BEEN NO OBJECTIVE REBUTTALS OF ANY OF THE
MATERIAL PRESENTED. There have only been hand waving arguments by
individuals who have mindlessly accepted the prevailing wisdom without
questioning it. If anyone provides a significant rebuttal that cannot be
objectively answered, the material at the Website will be withdrawn.
Challenges to date have revealed only the responder's inadequacy with one
exception for which a correction was provided.
.

User: "Sam Wormley"

Title: Re: The Paradox of Zeno 25 Apr 2005 09:55:44 AM
Kcab wrote:

The Paradox of Zeno

A set of four paradoxes dealing with counterintuitive aspects of
continuous space and time
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ZenosParadoxes.html
Thanks for registering "The Einstein Hoax " at crank dot net.
http://www.google.com/search?q=einstein+hoax+site%3Awww.crank.net
.


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