Simpler, yes. Science is written at about three levels. There are
articles, which tend to be extremely technical and are usually aimed
only at people working in those particular fields. Then there are
reports, which are "toned down" a bit and which take a bit more time to
explain things; those are probably aimed at cross-discipline readers.
Reports sometimes parallel articles or series of articles in the same
issue or in comparable journals. Then there are the news items written
for the casual, well-educated reader; these tend to written a bit more
colloquially for the less-well educated reader and are the ones most
likely to be picked up by the popular press, such as Discovery magazine
and Associated Press. These categories appear in the magazine in the
reverse of the order I've listed them. Also in the front are news items
relating to politics, funding, etc.
What I quoted here was a news article, so they probably used "one
ten-millionth of a second" for the greater impact it would have on lay
readers than "100 ns" would. I'm sure that the article in Nature (the
British equivalent of Science) used 100 ns or 0.1 �s. In fact, it
probably gave it to more than one significant figure.
Jim
kilopascal wrote:
>
> 2001-07-14
>
> Instead of saying one-ten-millionth of a second, wouldn't have been easier
> to say 100 ns?
>
> John
>
> Keiner ist hoffnungsloser versklavt als derjenige, der irrt�mlich glaubt
> frei zu sein.
>
> There are none more hopelessly enslaved then those who falsely believe they
> are free!
>
> Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "James R. Frysinger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Saturday, 2001-07-14 11:55
> Subject: [USMA:14382] Distant clock
>
> > Here's a clock that's even farther away than Boulder, CO. This is from
> > Science magazine's Online pages.
> >
> > Jim
> >
> > 12 July 2001 7:00 PM
> >
> >
> > Pulsar Precision Shows Space's Curves
> >
> >
> > Albert Einstein could only imagine the effects of a gravitational field
> > on a high-precision clock. But now researchers have turned his thought
> > experiment into a reality, and the new observations vindicate Einstein's
> > theory.
> >
> > The high-precision clock that made the new study possible is a rapidly
> > spinning neutron star called a millisecond pulsar that's orbited by a
> > compact white dwarf star. The pulsar, known as PSR J0437-4715, is about
> > 450 light-years away.
> >
> > A research team led by astrophysicist Willem van Straten of the
> > Swinburne University of Technology in Hawthorn, Australia, monitored the
> > arrival times of the brief radio beeps emitted by the pulsar, allowing
> > the team to figure out the shape and orientation of the orbit very
> > precisely. They managed to measure the position of the pulsar in the sky
> > to within one-hundred-thousandth of an arc second--the angle subtended
> > by a pixel on your computer monitor as seen from a distance of some 8000
> > kilometers.
> >
> > But the most important result, says van Straten, is their measurement of
> > the so-called Shapiro delay. When the white dwarf is on the near side of
> > its orbit, the pulsar's radio signals travel through the white dwarf's
> > gravitational field. According to general relativity, space in a strong
> > gravitational field is curved, so the radio pulses have to travel a
> > slightly longer distance than you would expect, resulting in a delay in
> > their arrival time of about one-ten-millionth of a second. The team
> > reports this delay in the 12 July issue of Nature.
> >
> > Earlier studies just showed that Einstein's general relativity theory is
> > self-consistent, says Frank Verbunt, a theoretical astrophysicist of
> > Utrecht University in the Netherlands. "But in this case, it's a real
> > independent test of the validity of general relativity," says Verbunt.
> >
> > --GOVERT SCHILLING
> >
> > --
> > Metric Methods(SM) "Don't be late to metricate!"
> > James R. Frysinger, CAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/
> > 10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Charleston, SC 29407 phone/FAX: 843.225.6789
> >
--
Metric Methods(SM) "Don't be late to metricate!"
James R. Frysinger, CAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/
10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Charleston, SC 29407 phone/FAX: 843.225.6789
