Test of Mach's Principle With a Mechanical Oscillator

TITLE AND SUBTITLE:
Test of Mach's Principle With a Mechanical Oscillator

AUTHOR(S):
John G. Cramer, Curran W. Fey, and Damon V. Casissi

REPORT DATE:
October 2004

FUNDING NUMBERS:
WBS-22-62-949-10-01
C-78671-K

PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES):
University of Washington
Department of Physics
Box 351560
Seattle, Washington 98195-1560

PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER:
E-14770

SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES):
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Washington, DC 20546-0001

REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED:
Final Contractor Report

SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY REPORT NUMBER:
NASA CR-2004-213310

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES:
Project Manager, Marc G. Millis, Turbomachinery and Propulsion Systems Division, NASA Glenn Research Center, organization code 5870, 216-977-7535.

ABSTRACT:
James F. Woodward has made a prediction, based on Sciama's formulation of Mach's Principle in the framework of general relativity, that in the presence of an energy flow the inertial mass of an object may undergo sizable variations, changing as the second time derivative of the energy. We describe an attempt to test for the predicted effect with a charging capacitor, using a technique that does not require an unbalanced force or any local violation of Newton's 3rd law of motion. We attempt to observe (1) the gravitational effect of the varying mass and (2) the effect of the mass variation on a driven harmonic oscillator with the charging capacitor as the oscillating mass. We report on the predicted effect, the design and implementation of the measurement apparatus, and initial experience with the apparatus. At this time, however, we will not report on observations of the presence or absence of the Woodward effect.

SUBJECT TERMS:
Interstellar travel; Spacecraft propulsion; Physics; Gravitation; Antigravity

NUMBER OF PAGES:
14

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