A Scientist Takes On Gravity

[Dr_Evil]

I think I'm at a loss of words for this...

It’s hard to imagine a more fundamental and ubiquitous aspect of life on the Earth than gravity, from the moment you first took a step and fell on your diapered bottom to the slow terminal sagging of flesh and dreams.

But what if it’s all an illusion, a sort of cosmic frill, or a side effect of something else going on at deeper levels of reality?

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/science/13gravity.html?no_interstitial

 

[Ash]

I read the article. Seems like quite a few of the experts in the field of string theory (and astrophysics) dismissed it. I'm not saying he's incorrect (as I haven't read his paper), but just saying that I'll side with the experts.
Gravity does exist.
I didn't read his paper and I don't want to try to discredit the guy (invented a formula which is important in string theory), but from what I can see it is just a re-hash of Ted Jacobson's 1995 work. Quote: "resembles Dr. Jacobson’s in many ways".
-The difference: He is trying to tie it in (mathematically) with entropy (and thermodynamics). For some reason I don't find that to be very groundbreaking. :undecided: More obvious. Laws of physics should work with each other.
"What is new, he said, is the idea that differences in entropy can be the driving mechanism behind gravity, that gravity is, as he puts it an 'entropic force.'"
Good read though. Thanks.op:

 

[rkcstr]

It's about time someone stood up to gravity. It's been dragging us down for years!

 

[HIMNL9]

It's about time someone stood up to gravity. It's been dragging us down for years!

What ? ..... do you mean you still don't know how to make antigravity ? ..... but it's almost more easy than make a pocket-size teleport device, you just need to take a resublimated tiotimoline crystal, enclose it in a geodetic unobtanium grid and .....

..... uhm, wait, this isn't the 2610, it's still the 2010 .....

..... nevermind, i just realized that i'm in the wrong century, for this, and you know, we are not allowed to change the past ..... will be for another time, sorry (damn time machine, i have to repair it again, it's still 600 years over calibration)

:crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :crackup:

 

[zerocover]

I like the notion of gravity just being a thermodynamic construct, and think it to be feasible definitely worth further examination.

@Ash: of course there are some “experts” who refuse to even give credence to the new theory, think about it. If you spent your life looking for the higgs boson, how would you react to a theory that does away with it?

 

[Meatball]

String theory is a religion. So far, it's full of speculation and "theory". Nothing has been observed, tested, or proven. So to see all these kinds physicists gain all kinds of credibility just because they helped work on some string doo-hickey, seems to give them credibility on the things that ARE observable- such as gravity.

Saying gravity doesn't exist is as easy as saying matter doesn't exist- its all the result of waves. Well duh! But gravity is something we observe and experience everyday, we only experience the result of matter. So to disprove gravity as described by either Newton or Einstein is going to be a tricky matter.

 

[Fonduman]

title is misleading. i thought the scientist had jumped off a cliff.

 

[Tech_Junkie]

op: Most great minds believe there is a 20% chance we are living in a simulation. I hate to say it, but I see it more and more everyday. :undecided:

Do the people in the game The Simms know they are in a game? :thinking:

 

[Meatball]

Doesn't this ever happen to you?

 

[Nanolaser]

In X-plane you can play with the weather system just by changing the parameters and you can also play with gravity and antigravity,... In 2003 i was playing allot with x-plane it is really a nice peace of software. You can download the demo version from :

X-Plane

Video :

YouTube - NASA Puffin Low Noise, Electric VTOL Personal Air Vehicle

 

[Fonduman]

i wonder, based on models/simulations with lines depicting air resistance, if you could use calculus to find a minimum condition and thus make the most aerodynamic model possible. hmm i guess it'd just be like a flying sword or something

 

[charliebruce]

i wonder, based on models/simulations with lines depicting air resistance, if you could use calculus to find a minimum condition and thus make the most aerodynamic model possible. hmm i guess it'd just be like a flying sword or something

It's a little more complicated than that - flight conditions, altitude, temperature, loads, and many other factors affect an aircraft design, so there's no "perfect" model that works in every situation. The aim of any design is to find the best compromise between all of the factors, that meets the specification required, and works safely in any conditions the aircraft may meet.

For example, most aircraft can fly with half of their engines failed or failing - but it's not as efficient, and won't work as well in extreme weather. You also don't need the entire wing-span of a jet to get off the ground, but if you don't, you can't climb as high, and so drag forces are greater, and it takes more fuel.

 

[DiRollin]

That SIMS thing could be a really good movie based on the Holographic/Simulation Theory if it was made as a serious film and not as a comedy.

 

[Tech_Junkie]

That SIMS thing could be a really good movie based on the Holographic/Simulation Theory if it was made as a serious film and not as a comedy.

It was. I think it was called The Matrix.

 

[DiRollin]

Haha good point. Forgot about that. I'm thinking more of a serious, non-crazy-action movie. Something more like the movie "Moon" mixed with the Truman Show haha... When I went to film school it immediately made me hate big budget Hollywood movies. :undecided: