From: utzoo!decvax!duke!harpo!uwvax!doug
Newsgroups: net.physics
Title: the spinning ant and Ernst Mach
Article-I.D.: uwvax.551
Posted: Wed Aug 11 20:54:29 1982
Received: Sat Aug 14 03:57:03 1982



reply to Don Chan replying to me about the spinning ant

We are quickly leaving behind my understanding of the subject!

Anyway, according to Dr. Davies, Ernst Mach attempted (unsucessfully says
Davies) to promote the so-called relationist view that the spinning ant
would experience inertial forces because it was spinning relative to
the whole rest of the universe - a universe which cannot possibly be
eliminated in any experiment!

Davies says that modern physics says the fact that the ant experiences
the inertial forces can be taken as "evidence of the physical reality
of space."  He maintains that Mach's view is not accepted by the
mainstream of physics.  Einstein was very influenced by Mach's thesis.

The question is - if we *could* completely eliminate the rest of the
universe from the experiment would the poor ant *still* experience
inertial forces.  Davies maintains it would.