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No single experiment could possibly prove General relativity. It is true that the swinging of the pendulum is consistent with the tenets of General Relativity but it is also consistent with Newton's theory of gravity as well. Physical laws and theories are not capable of proof in the same way that mathematical theories are capable of proof.
All we can know is that a physical theory is consistent with the experiments we have tried or it is not.
We can NOT know whether some future experiment will have results inconsistent with the theory. For a couple centuries all experiments seemed to have results consistent with Newton's explanation of Gravity. In the 1800's some observations seemed to be inconsistent with Newton's laws of optics. Einstein proposed the special theory of relativity and then the general theory of relativity. Einstein's theories are less than a Century old and future scientist may very well determine that his explanation is incomplete.

2007-03-08 01:29:17 · answer #1 · answered by anonimous 6 · 0 0

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