User talk:Robert Adams

Welcome to Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium! We hope you will contribute much and well. You will probably want to read the help pages. Again, welcome and have fun! John Stephenson 15:07, 16 July 2013 (UTC)

Rules of physics: some suggestions and queries

Hi Robert:

I am unclear what your objective is with the blank article RULES OF PHYSICS and the more extensive version: The Rules Of Physics. You may be unaware of the existing article Physics or have in mind some elaboration of the subject that is not explained at the beginning of your piece.

There are some CZ conventions in article construction you will have to follow. Neither of your titles follows CZ custom, which would be in the form The rules of physics with only the lead word and proper nouns capitalized. The use of an abstract is common in technical publications, but not on CZ, where an introductory few lines explains the subject. You can look at some example articles like Physics or Speed of light to get the idea.

The outline provided in the abstract to The Rules Of Physics appears to state your personal conception of the topic. I'd hazard that this approach will not fly without supporting references and a clear presentation of the objectives of the article, and whether this is (in your opinion) a personal point of view or a presentation of an established view.

Although CZ prides itself upon being constructed by experts, no author here is felt to be such an expert that their unsupported opinion is sufficient basis for assertions. References are provided using footnotes and a References section. If you click the Edit indicator at the top right of a page like Metre (unit) and scroll through the text you will see how these notes and sources are provided in a CZ article that uses this formatting.

It appears that your article is a work under construction. Perhaps you would find it more comfortable to develop it on a user page until it reaches a more mature form? That can be done by moving your work to a new page like User:Robert Adams/The rules of physics.

Hope to see your efforts grow and prosper as you learn more about CZ. John R. Brews 03:59, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

Some additional observations

Below are some remarks I have placed on the Talk page for your article. I'm repeating them here in the event you move this page to user space and they become lost.

Faster than the speed of light

Robert: As you know, the speed of light plays a key role in special relativity. Apparently you wish to discuss this matter in this article. There are, of course, two aspects to it: the logical framework of the theory and its various propositions, and the empirical observations used to support it.

You wish, it seems, to establish that objects can in fact travel faster than the speed of light. As I understand the matter, there is no experimental evidence of this fact that is widely accepted. Recent observations of neutrino motion have been deemed not to provide evidence about this matter. Of course, a logical formulation different from the special theory could lead to this prediction, which then must await experimental confirmation.

Any attempt to upset the credibility of the special theory faces an uphill battle. I think the best you can do in this article is to cite various published objections to the theory and their basis. You will have to conclude with the assessment of these objections by the scientific community at this time.

A different title is advisable because The rules of physics does not convey its subject, which is more along the lines of Alternatives to the special theory of relativity.

Without a very careful presentation, it is very possible that the CZ community will not accept this article as meeting its standards. John R. Brews 16:20, 21 July 2013 (UTC)