Page:LorentzStatement1920.djvu/28

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THE EARTH AS A MOVING CAR

Everyone knows that a person may be sitting in any kind of a vehicle without noticing its progress, so long as the movement does not vary in direction or speed; in a car of a fast express train objects fall in just the same way as in a coach that is standing still. Only when we look at objects outside the train, or when the air can enter the car, do we notice indications of the motion.

We may compare the earth with such a moving vehicle, which in its course around the sun has a remarkable speed, of which the direction and velocity during a considerable period of time may be regarded as

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