Abstract
PLANETARY PERTURBATIONS AND ÆTHER-DRIFT.—In a paper entitled “Continued Discussion of the Astronomical and Gravitational Bearings of the Electrical Theory of Matter” (Philosophical Magazine, February, 1918), Sir Oliver Lodge continues a discussion commenced by the suggestion that the shift in Mercury's perihelion might be explained by a drift of the solar system through the aether. Prof. Eddington showed that a drift that would account for this would bring inadmissibly large errors into the other elements of the inner planets. Sir Oliver Lodge admits an error in his former work in the. following words: “If the additional inertia due to motion is acted on by gravity the varying factor m will enter twice into the equation of motion and the perturbation will be increased instead of being annihilated.” Makirig this change, he examines once more whether it is possible to find a drift that will satisfy the observed perturbation's within their limits of error. After many trials, he concludes that they cannot all be satisfied in this way. He tends to the conclusion that gravity has joined the conspiracy to defeat our efforts to detect motion through the aether, and that we are led to accept the conclusion that the gravitation-constant itself is a function of the speed of the attracting masses. In support of this he quotes some electrical results which lead him to believe that electrical attraction does actually-vary with speed. “If such a fact be established [for gravity] it may begin to throw some light on the family relationship of that force.”
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Our Astronomical Column . Nature 101, 72 (1918). https://doi.org/10.1038/101072a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/101072a0