Nick wrote:

Jesse Mazer wrote:


Nick wrote:



Jesse Mazer wrote:




Nick wrote:





No. The spaceship is not at rest if it is moving through space
to werever its going Jesse.







But my scenario was that it's *not* moving, that it started off




moving




but then decelerated until it was at rest relative to absolute




space.




Isn't anything that's at rest relative to absolute space "not




moving",




by definition?

Jesse




The problem is everything has aquired motion through space at
creation. That is what forces are about.

Call it original motion or the starting gate so to speak.

Look at gravity; it is everywhere and it moves objects through
space-time; and there's space's motion of expansion which is like
anti-gravity.





OK, but if you've "acquired motion" relative to absolute space, why
can't you cancel out this motion by accelerating in the opposite
direction until you are at rest relative to absolute space? If I hit


the


gas pedal to accelerate in one direction, I acquire motion relative


to


the road, but if I hit the brake to decelerate (ie accelerate in the
opposite direction), I can come back to a halt relative to the road.


Why


wouldn't it be possible to do the same sort of thing in order to come


to


a halt relative to absolute space?

Jesse



Yes I follow you. That make's sense.

But "space" moves and shares its motion with matter.
This can be seen by the expansion of space carrying the
galaxies away from one another.
I believe in absolute space but I also believe space can move.




OK, but imagine a situation where space is not expanding, or the rate of
expansion is minimal compared to the movement of the objects we're
looking at. Now suppose we have two planets moving in the same direction
and at the same velocity through absolute space, say, 10 km/sec. Now a
rocket on one of the planets fires in the opposite direction, causing it
to decelerate with respect to absolute space, until it is at rest
relative to absolute space, at which point the rocket stops firing. Now
the rocket will be standing still in absolute space, while the planet it
took off from will still be moving away from it at 10 km/sec, while the
other planet will be moving towards it at 10 km/sec. In this case,
although from the point of view of observers on each planet it *looks*
like the rocket is moving from one planet to the other at 10 km/sec,
from the point of view of absolute space it's actually the planets that
are moving and the rocket that is standing still. Do you agree that this
is possible, if absolute space exists?

Jesse