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Current mood:  nerdy Category: News and Politics
I can't seem to leave some stories alone...
Push Me, Pull You and Piroette
Stay with me here...this really is going someplace!
Have you ever thought about gravity? I mean really thought about it? We all know that gravity is one of the forces of nature and is what holds us to the Earth, but there's a lot more to it than that.
The four accepted forces in the universe are:
The electromagnetic force makes up light, radio, and the like. Yes, radio (and TV) signals are exactly the same as light. So are X-rays, cosmic rays, and the microwaves you used to heat up your coffee this morning. The only difference is the frequency. For more information, see thisWikipedia Article.
The strong nuclear force is what holds the "building blocks" of protons and neutrons together. There are tiny particles with cute names like quarks and gluons that make up, for example, protons within an atom. The strong force holds them together to make up the proton. Oh, by the way, quarks have color, spin, hair, and charm. For more information, see thisWikipedia Article.
The weak nuclear force holds atoms together. Think of it as "glue" to stick protons, neutrons, and electrons together and you'll be OK. For more information, see thisWikipedia Article.
The last force is the gravitational force. It's also the least understood. For more information, see thisWikipedia Article.
As you can see from the articles, our understanding of gravity has several problems. First, the explanations offered by Newton, relativity, quantum mechanics, and M-theory are wildly different. It's worth noting that all four theories explain, within reasonable limits, the observed phenomena attributed to gravity. The fact remains that, at least at this time, we can't say which is right.
It doesn't matter, though. NASA uses Newtonian equations to get probes to Jupiter and Saturn because the math is easier and it works. It may not be right, but it works. Results are the important thing here.
Another problem is that gravity works over great distances—like the distance between the Earth and sun, some 93-million miles. It takes light about eight minutes to make the trip from the sun to the Earth, and that's as fast as you can go. The gravity of the sun and Earth interact in a way that keeps the Earth locked into a relatively stable orbit around the sun. BUT if the sun were to suddenly disappear, the Earth would immediately react by leaving its orbit and moving off in a straight line. That means that the gravitational force can act over distances faster than the speed of light allows.
One explanation offered by relativity and quantum mechanics is that gravity bends space. It's this bending and curvature that creates orbits, not an actual exchange of forces. To borrow a word from Penn and Teller, bullshit. If this were the case, the change in the curvature of space would have to propagate faster than light. This guess does nothing more than move the problem from one place to another with the hope that no one notices.
Quantum mechanics tried to fix this with the introduction of "gravitons", particles that carry the gravitational force. This is better, but quantum mechanics still can't explain how gravitons can move faster than light. It just doesn't work for them.
M-theory does a little better, but it will be nearly impossible to prove the idea of folding up the universe into eleven dimensions to get the gravitons to look like they are moving faster than light. Well, we might be able to do that in a million years or so.
We evolved in Earth's gravity and we need it. Ever drop something only to reach out and catch it before it hit the floor? You can only do that because homo sapiens spent the last few billion years to reach our present evolutionary level while stuck at the bottom of Earth's gravity well. We instinctively understand the fact that Earth's mass causes a gravitational acceleration of thirty-two feet per second per second. That is to say that an object, when dropped on Earth, will accelerate by thirty-two feet per second for every second that it falls...after one second, it's moving at thirty-two feet per second. After two seconds, it's going sixty-four feet per second. After three, the speed is ninety-six feet per second. By the way, ninety-six feet per second is about sixty-five miles per hour.
Put a human in a different gravitational field where the acceleration is different, and they turn clumsy. We didn't evolve to deal with gravity different from our own. Watch the films of the several lunar landings.
What about other effects of gravity? Let's talk about astrology...
Almost every major daily newspaper in the US has an astrology column. Research shows that these daily prognostications are one of the most popular parts of the papers, too. I even have links to astrology sites on my home page!
I won't get into the debate of if there is any truth to astrology or not. That's a hopeless battle that neither side can prove or win. What I will say is that astrology has to be related to the transfer of energy between two bodies. In order for, let's say, the position of Jupiter at the time of your birth to influence you in any way, there must be a long distance exchange of force between you and Jupiter. How else could this happen?
The only force that meets this need is gravity. It acts over long distances and apparently at some speed faster than the speed of light. Somehow.
So, the assumption here is that the gravitational forces coming from Jupiter and you at the time of birth determine your personality traits. I can accept that.
But, gravity decreases with distance. That's why Earth orbits the sun much faster than does Jupiter. Gravity also depends on mass. That's why Jupiter's gravity is so much stronger than Earth's.
Jupiter is very massive, but it's very far away.
The obstetrician who delivered you wasn't very massive, but he was very close.
If you do the math (I'll spare you the details), the gravitational force of the obstetrician was about a million times greater on the newborn you than was that of Jupiter.
Therefore, your personality traits are far more dependent on the doctor in the delivery room than on the position of any planet.
See? I was going someplace with this!
By the way...remember that comment above about the daily astrology columns in the newspapers? About 90% of major daily papers in the US have such columns.
Fewer than 3% have a daily science or astronomy column.
Keep Loving!
Melodee Aaron, Erotica Romance Author
Melodee's Books at BookStrand
Melodee's Books at Fictionwise
Inquisitor Betrayer
4:38 PM
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