<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Jim</i>
<br />Is that in fact what atoms really do? Do they slowdown that way?
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It took me quite a lot of time to find that out. I started looking for the information in modern books about 12 years ago, and all I found was that “time slows down”. But I didn’t agree with that. I'd had some experience with "time" in my own profession. I continued my investigation and I finally discovered in old books, that what happens is that atomic oscillation rates slow down in a gravity field, and for a few other reasons too. This idea goes all the way back to the Lorentz theory of the late 19th Century.
A natural “atomic” clock was hypothesized by Maxwell in his 1873 book. Lorentz’s book of 1895 discussed it in terms of oscillations of atoms or “ions”. Einstein called his 1911 atomic redshift clock, “the vibration-number of an elementary light-generator”. I figure he was talking about what Maxwell had said in 1873, which was:
<b>”In the present state of science the most universal standard of length which we could assume would be the wave length in vacuum of a particular kin do flight, emitted by some widely diffused substance such as sodium, which has well-defined lines in its spectrum.”</b>
And:
<b>”In astronomy a year is sometimes used as a unit of time. A more universal unit of time might be found by taking the periodic time of vibration of the particular kind of light whose wave length is the unit of length.”</b>
Also, an Einstein supporter, Charles Steinmetz confirmed this point of view in his 1923 book. He said:
<b>”We cannot carry a clock from the earth to Betelgeuse, but we do not need to do this, since every incandescent hydrogen atom, for instance, is an accurate clock, vibrating at rate definitely fixed by the electrical constants of the hydrogen atom and showing us the exact rate of its vibration in the spectroscope by the wave length or frequency of its spectrum lines. Thus in a strong gravitational field the frequency of luminous vibrations of the atoms should be found slowed down’ in other words, the spectrum lines should be shifted towards the red end of the spectrum.”</b>
That’s it. That seems to be a big secret today, but that’s all there is to it. The oscillation rates of atoms apparently slow down inside a gravity field, and the frequency of their emitted light goes down too. In less of a gravity field, the oscillation rates speeds up a little, and the frequency of their emitted light goes up a little.
This stuff about this slow-down and speed-up representing all of “time” in the location of the atoms, comes, vaguely, from Lorentz’s theory, but the concept was made famous by Einstein. Also, in the SR theory Einstein used mechanical “balance wheel” clocks, and he just pretended that they slowed down just as Lorentz’s atoms slowed down. But, I think by 1911, Einstein realized he was wrong about that, since balance wheel clocks operate by different laws of physics than oscillating atoms. Balance wheel clocks work more by the laws of basic Galilean and Newtonian mechanics, while oscillating atoms operate by quantum mechanics laws, which, back in the time of Lorentz and Einstein, was known as “electrodynamics”.
But, the urban legend gradually became the myth that “atomic clocks” represent “true time” and that all kinds of clocks will “slow down” at exactly the same rate as atomic clocks in a gravity field, but this is just not true. In fact, pendulum clocks will speed up in a stronger gravity field. Where atomic clocks slow down, pendulum clocks speed up. Mechanical balance-wheel clocks work by different rules.
I’ve conducted a lot of research about this. It has taken years for me to find out some of this stuff. I’ve had to go back through a lot of old books an papers that nobody remembers today.
