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A representation of the geodetic effect.
The geodetic effect represents the effect of the curvature of spacetime, predicted by general relativity, on a spinning, moving body. A related effect was first predicted by Willem de Sitter in 1916, who provided relativistic corrections to the Earth-Moon system's motion. De Sitter's work was extended in 1918 by Jan Schouten and in 1920 by Adriaan Fokker.[1]
[edit] Experimental confirmation
The geodetic effect was verified to a precision of better than 1 percent by Gravity Probe B, an experiment which measures the tilting of the spin axis of gyroscopes in orbit about the Earth.[2] The first results were announced in April 14, 2007 at the meeting of the American Physical Society[3].
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Jean Eisenstaedt, Anne J. Kox (1988). Studies in the History of General Relativity. Birkhäuser. p. 42. ISBN 0817634797. http://books.google.com/books?id=vDHCF_3vIhUC&pg=PA42.
- ^ Gravity Probe B
- ^ http://einstein.stanford.edu/content/press_releases/SU/pr-aps-041807.pdf
[edit] External links
