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→Falsifiability: General relativity - theoretically falsifiable, practically ??
::::::::If tests existed that might falsify General Relativity, then in the nearly 100 years since its proposal we would have seen many of them. Instead, as the latest discussion (and the famous 1919 solar eclipse) illustrate, margins of error in the experiments are typically greater than the deviations predicted by the theory.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 10:13, 13 November 2009 (EST)
::::::::If tests existed that might falsify General Relativity, then in the nearly 100 years since its proposal we would have seen many of them. Instead, as the latest discussion (and the famous 1919 solar eclipse) illustrate, margins of error in the experiments are typically greater than the deviations predicted by the theory.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 10:13, 13 November 2009 (EST)
: (unindent)
: Andy raises an interesting point. In theory, it's easy to test general relativity - take KSorenson's gravity probe, for example. <small>This wouldn't absolutely prove it; there might always be a better theory out there. But nothing can ''ever'' be absolutely proven in science - the point is that this test could disprove it.</small> So, in theory, it's falsifiable. "[falsifiable|A proposition or theory is falsifiable if it is hypothetically possible for a test or observation to prove it false]." Of course, a hypothetical future theory might still include black holes (there's an infinite number of possible theories), but the possibility of black holes according to general relativity (how's that for a mouthful?) is falsifiable, because general relativity is falsifiable. Or, to try to say it more simply: the possibility of the particular sort of black hole predicted by general relativity (with exactly these properties, et cetera) is falsifiable. I hope I made my verbiage understandable enough for you all to agree or disagree?
:But as you point out, the solar eclipse experiment didn't test general relativity in practice: the margins of error were too big. (I don't know if that's still true with modern experiments; could someone who knows more about that fill me in?) So, while it's theoretically falsifiable, it's possible that general relativity hasn't actually been tested yet... -- [[User:EvanW|EvanW]] 10:36, 13 November 2009 (EST)