Abstract
PROFESSOR ATWATER writes: IN reply to Noonan's comments concerning the metric of rotating systems1, it is clear that the metric of such systems is not Minkowski. Because the components of the Minkowski tensor are constants, the resulting Christoffel symbol ½ gJa(gta,k + gka, t − gtk,a) vanishes and the equation for the geodesic lines is d2xJ/ds2 = 0 (see ref. 2). In a Minkowski frame therefore free particles will move along straight lines. Free particles do not move on straight-line paths in a rotating frame, but follow curved-line paths under the influence of the apparent forces called centrifugal and Coriolis forces. Similarly, photons will travel on curvilinear paths in a rotating frame3. We do not know with certainty how to transform to rotating coordinates1.
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