How physical constants have changed over time

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The official values of the constants have changed even over the past few decades. But if the measurements show a deviation from the expected value of the constant, which is not so rare, the results are considered to be an experimental error. And only rare scientists dare to go against the established scientific paradigm and declare the heterogeneity of the Universe.

Gravitational constant

The gravitational constant (G) first appeared in Newton's equation of gravity, according to which the force of gravitational interaction of two bodies is equal to the ratio of the product of the masses of these interacting bodies multiplied by it to the square of the distance between them. The value of this constant has been measured many times since it was first determined in a precision experiment by Henry Cavendish in 1798.

At the initial stage of measurements, a significant scatter of the results was observed, and then a good convergence of the data obtained was observed. Nevertheless, even after 1970, the "best" results range from 6.6699 to 6.6745, that is, the spread is 0.07%.

Of all the known fundamental constants, it is the numerical value of the gravitational constant that is determined with the least accuracy, although the importance of this value can hardly be overestimated. All attempts to clarify the exact meaning of this constant were unsuccessful, and all measurements remained in too large a range of possible values. The fact that the accuracy of the numerical value of the gravitational constant still does not exceed 1/5000, the editor of the journal "Nature" defined as "a spot of shame on the face of physics."

In the early 80s. Frank Stacy and his colleagues measured this constant in deep mines and boreholes in Australia, and the value he obtained was about 1% higher than the official value currently accepted.

The speed of light in a vacuum

According to Einstein's theory of relativity, the speed of light in a vacuum is an absolute constant. Most modern physical theories are based on this postulate. Therefore, there is a strong theoretical bias against considering the question of a possible change in the speed of light in a vacuum. In any case, this question is currently officially closed. Since 1972, the speed of light in a vacuum has been declared constant by definition and is now considered equal to 299792.458 ± 0.0012 k / s.

As in the case of the gravitational constant, the previous measurements of this constant were significantly different from the modern, officially recognized value. For example, in 1676 Roemer deduced a value that was 30% lower than the current one, and Fizeau's results obtained in 1849 were 5% higher.

From 1928 to 1945 the speed of light in a vacuum, as it turned out, was 20 km / s less than before and after this period.

In the late 40s. the value of this constant began to increase again. It is not surprising that when new measurements began to give higher values of this constant, some bewilderment arose among scientists at first. The new value turned out to be about 20 km / s higher than the previous one, that is, quite close to the one established in 1927. Since 1950, the results of all measurements of this constant again turned out to be very close to each other (Fig. 15). It remains only to speculate how long the uniformity of the results would have been maintained if measurements were continued. But in practice, in 1972, the official value of the speed of light in a vacuum was adopted, and further research was stopped.

In experiments conducted by Dr. Lijun Wang at the NEC research institute in Princeton, surprising results were obtained. The experiment consisted in passing light pulses through a container filled with specially treated cesium gas. The experimental results turned out to be phenomenal - the speed of light pulses turned out to be 300 (three hundred) timesmore than the permissible speed from the Lorentz transformations (2000)!

In Italy, another group of physicists from the Italian National Research Council, in their experiments with microwaves (2000), obtained the speed of their propagation to 25%more than the permissible speed according to A. Einstein …

Most interestingly, Einshein was aware of the volatility of the speed of light:

From school textbooks everyone knows about the confirmation of Einstein's theory by the Michelson-Morley experiments. But practically no one knows that in the interferometer, which was used in the Michelson-Morley experiments, light traveled, in total, a distance of 22 meters. In addition, the experiments were carried out in the basement of a stone building, practically at sea level. Further, the experiments were carried out for four days (July 8, 9, 11 and 12) in 1887. During these days, data from the interferometer were taken for as long as 6 hours, and there were absolutely 36 turns of the device. And on this experimental base, as on three whales, the confirmation of the "correctness" of both the special and general theory of relativity of A. Einstein rests.

The facts, of course, are serious matters. Therefore, let's turn to the facts. American physicist Dayton Miller(1866-1941) in 1933 published in the journal Reviews of Modern Physics the results of his experiments on the so-called ether drift for a period of more than twenty yearsresearch, and in all these experiments he received positive results in confirmation of the existence of the etheric wind. He began his experiments in 1902 and completed them in 1926. For these experiments, he created an interferometer with a total beam path of 64meters. It was the most perfect interferometer of that time, at least three times more sensitive than the interferometer used in their experiments by A. Michelson and E. Morley. The interferometer measurements were taken at different times of the day, at different times of the year. The readings from the instrument were taken more than 200,000 thousand times, and more than 12,000 turns of the interferometer were made. He periodically raised his interferometer to the top of Mount Wilson (6,000 feet above sea level - more than 2,000 meters), where, as he assumed, the ether wind speed was higher.

Dayton Miller wrote letters to A. Einstein. In one of his letters, he reported on the results of his twenty-four years of work, confirming the presence of the etheric wind. A. Einstein responded to this letter very skeptically and demanded evidence, which was presented to him. Then … no answer.

Fragment of the article The Theory of the Universe and Objective Reality

Constant Plank

Planck's constant (h) is a fundamental constant of quantum physics and relates the radiation frequency (υ) to the energy quantum (E) in accordance with the formula E-hυ. It has the dimension of action (that is, the product of energy and time).

We are told that quantum theory is a model of brilliant success and amazing accuracy: "The laws discovered in the description of the quantum world (…) are the most faithful and accurate tools ever used to successfully describe and predict Nature. In some cases, the coincidence between the theoretical forecast and the actual result obtained are so accurate that the discrepancies do not exceed one billionth part."

I have heard and read such statements so often that I am accustomed to believe that the numerical value of Planck's constant should be known to within the farthest decimal place. It seems that it is so: you just have to look in some reference book on this topic. However, the illusion of accuracy will disappear if you open the previous edition of the same guide. Over the years, the officially recognized value of this "fundamental constant" has changed, showing a tendency towards a gradual increase.

The maximum change in the value of Planck's constant was noted from 1929 to 1941, when its value increased by more than 1%. To a large extent, this increase was caused by a significant change in the experimentally measured electron charge, i.e. Measurements of the Planck constant do not give direct values of this constant, since when determining it, it is necessary to know the magnitude of the charge and the mass of the electron. If one or even more so both of the last constants change their values, the value of Planck's constant also changes.

Fine structure constant

Some physicists consider the fine structure constant as one of the main cosmic numbers that can help explain the unified theory.

Measurements carried out at the Lund Observatory (Sweden) by Professor Svenerik Johansson and his graduate student Maria Aldenius in collaboration with the English physicist Michael Murphy (Cambridge) have shown that another dimensionless constant, the so-called fine structure constant, also changes over time. This quantity, formed from the combination of the speed of light in a vacuum, an elementary electric charge and Planck's constant, is an important parameter that characterizes the strength of the electromagnetic interaction that holds the particles of an atom together.

To understand whether the fine structure constant varies over time, scientists compared the light coming from distant quasars - super-bright objects located billions of light-years from Earth - with laboratory measurements. When light emitted by quasars passes through clouds of cosmic gas, a continuous spectrum is formed with dark lines showing how the various chemical elements that make up the gas absorb light. Having studied the systematic shifts in the positions of the lines and comparing them with the results of laboratory experiments, the researchers came to the conclusion that the sought constant is undergoing changes. To a common man in the street, they may not seem very significant: only a few millionths of a percent over 6 billion years, but in the exact sciences, as you know, there are no trifles.

“Our knowledge of the Universe is incomplete in many ways,” says Professor Johansson. “It remains unknown what 90% of the matter in the Universe is made of - the so-called“dark matter.”There are different theories of what happened after the Big Bang. Therefore, new knowledge always come in handy, even if they are not consistent with the current concept of the universe."