Thread: No such thing as gravity?

Do you have any formal physics education? Have you ever actually studied general relativity? I'm not asking if you've read some pop sci books about it, I'm asking if you've looked at the mathematics. Do you know what differential geometry is? Could you do some calculations involving differential geometry?

I consider it a blessing and a curse that I have never had any formal physics education past high school. However, after my breakthrough and after 20 or so years of dabbling in cosmology and astrophysics I really do think that I could further my theory with some formal ecucation. Unfortunately, I think after listening to professors and after reading those, in my opinion, erronious text books that I would have to "bite my tounge" in a few situations. But that shouldn't detract from the validity of my arguement. Its just that I dont have the ability to prove it in mathmatical terms yet.

Originally Posted by Xei

This is just a statement, it's not an argument.

That is what this whole thread, the quest to find dark matter and dark energy, and ultimately the undoing and revision of physics as we know it today is about. This statement/arguement will not only determine the fate of the legacies of Newton and Einstein but will determine the discovery of the grand unification theory. The theory of everything. Which physics has been plagued with problems from the get go. Physics is seriously flawed and untill they recognize and admit this today's understanding of physics one day will be remembered as being as flat as the earth was.

Originally Posted by ericcc123

However, after my breakthrough and after 20 or so years of dabbling in cosmology and astrophysics I really do think that I could further my theory with some formal education. Unfortunately, I think after listening to professors and after reading those, in my opinion, erronious text books that I would have to "bite my tounge" in a few situations. Physics is seriously flawed and until they recognize and admit this today's understanding of physics one day will be remembered as being as flat as the earth was.

1. Your professors? If you have not had any formal education in science beyond high school, then who are "your professors"?
2. Biting your tongue is often the wisest thing to do. You're very confident that you know the answer to this but you haven't taken the time to listen to the whole question. You should show a more humble approach to formal education, rather than an "It's not worth my time" attitude.

Originally Posted by Replicon

One of the obvious signs that the basic Newtonian system wasn't sufficient was the orbit of Mercury. Rather than being a pretty stable orbit, it moves around kind of like a spirograph. Einstein's theory of general relativity actually accounts for that, but for it to work, there MUST be such a thing as "gravitational waves" - the source of the "force" known as gravity. Basically, as the theory goes (cause it's still a theory), when two LARGE masses spin around each other, it generates "gravitational waves," which can be thought of as longitudinal waves that compress space itself.

Now, in the case of electromagnetic waves, it was fairly easy to build a generator and a receiver to prove that they exist and are measurable. Unfortunately, to build a gravitational wave generator, they've calculated that the two large masses need to be about the mass of the sun, and they need to spin around each other at almost the speed of light.

However, there is INDIRECT proof, in the form of data collected over 30 or so years on two black holes or neutron stars (not sure which) orbiting around each other. The theory that assumes there are gravitational waves predicts with uncanny accuracy the behaviour of these two large masses (which the basic newtonian theory does not).

There are currently several observatories in the world built for the purpose of measuring these waves. Unfortunately, the waves are ridiculously weak and very hard to measure. The one facility I visited (LIGO in eastern washington) has a probability of maybe 1/30 each year of finding something. However, with the upgrades and new instruments they're building in over the next 5 years or so, they expect to be able to measure about 50 events in a year.

Here's more info on how one would attempt to measure something as subtle as ripples in time and space, see here: LIGO Overview

Tadaaa: http://www.dreamviews.com/science-ma...nal-waves.html
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