6 ms·
I would like to join in with many of the statements in this thread describing a joint lack of understanding of the physical universe as well as a deep fascinati
by TheMightyLlama 6y ago
I would like to join in with many of the statements in this thread describing a joint lack of understanding of the physical universe as well as a deep fascination with it. I certainly count myself among those ranks.
In watching way too many YouTube videos on quantum physics and gravity I began to create a model of how the universe works at the very small scale and after a while something occurred to me.
We know that the path of a photon can be bent if it passes near a black hole. The key being that spacetime is being somehow consumed by a black hole and the photon is being dragged towards it. Thus, its path appears bent. I thought that similar effects should happen with volumes of a lighter mass. Perhaps with the same mechanism.
Neutron stars would have a smaller effect on photons, and a more measurable effect on heavier particles and molecules. Neutron stars would also somehow 'consume' spacetime. Just at a lower rate. Thus heavier particles would escape.
So too with the earth. Only, in this case, the mass of the earth is small enough that molecules can escape all on their own.
So, what is gravity? Gravity in this model is the effect of spacetime being consumed. By analogy the spacetime is like standing under a shower. We are glued to the earth because we cannot gain enough purchase against the torrent of spacetime being consumed by the mass of the earth.
Which brings me to the second question. Well, this is where actually having some physics would be useful. But after many drunken bouts of thought, I'm convinced that this spacetime consumption is down to [color confinement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_confinement#QCD_string https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_confinement#QCD_string).
Anyway, enjoy. If nothing else, this should at least be useful for some sci-fi anti-gravity mechanism.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- joquarky 6y agoI've often wondered if mass can locally affect the rate of expansion of the universe, causing gravity as a side effect.
- Balgair 6y agoGreat questions/ideas! To maybe nit-pick a bit to help out: Space time is not 'consumed', it's just curved in 4-D. The Einstein Field Equations are a very good model of what we think is occurring. Photons are massless, hence why they can travel at light-speed. Their energy is the thing to worry about when doing GR.
- TheMightyLlama 6y agoThe crucial question I guess is: Why do objects fall down a gravity well if its just a curvature? The 'consumption' to me is more intuitive, but then again I'm just not a mathematician. Is it the field equations specifically thatI should look at or are there others? And also what type of math structures should I be studying to understand the field equations?
- pa7x1 6y agoThey don't fall a gravity well, they follow straight lines in a curved spacetime. Not subject to the other forces everything follows the straightest line (geodesics) it possibly can in a curved spacetime. The field equations define the spacetime geometry but they are very hard to solve, you will gain little insight from them. Instead you should try to understand the concept of a geodesic, how they are extremes of a variational problem, how they are calculated and the physical/geometrical intuition behind them.
- l33tman 6y agoA standard particle is not a point in 4D, it's a track, if it's locally static (compared to you for example) it's still churning happily along the t-dimension. In GR, the 4D spacetime is curved, so when you burn along the t-dimension locally, you might be seen as moving along one of the spacial dimensions as seen from afar (like, when you observe another guy falling down a building or observing dust getting swooped up by a black hole).
- Eyght 6y agoThis is the same conclusion I've come to, in basically the same way. It's great to see that I'm not alone in thinking along these lines. There ought to be a physicist that has walked down this path already. I'd be very interested in reading about their findings.