How Things Work: A Brief History of Reality
BOOK II: The Power of Three – #71. "The Log-Ride of Gravity"
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Tuesday, February 21, 2023
“First, [Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation] is mathematical in its expression…. Second, it is not exact; Einstein had to modify it…. There is always an edge of mystery, always a place where we have some fiddling around to do yet…. But the most impressive fact is that gravity is simple…. It is simple, and therefore it is beautiful…. Finally, comes the universality of the gravitational law and the fact that it extends over such enormous distances…”
– Richard P. Feynman
PREFACE
Welcome Everybody!
Attempting to find a metaphor for gravity is not easy. Einstein’s understanding of gravity can be somewhat counter-intuitive. The concept of a physical object “pulling” another object toward it is understood as “attraction.” We can easily conceive of this concept. Magnets “attract” metal particles. Negatively charged particles “attract” positively charged particles. Therefore, we have a “sense” of how one object might attract another object. This was Newton’s concept of gravity. Einstein’s explanation of gravity and its influence is considerably more complex; thus, more difficult to “visualize” or “understand” in terms of the meaning and consequence of its aggregate implications.
“Einstein suggests that gravity has nothing to do with objects ‘attracting’ each other through some kind of ‘mysterious pulling force.’”
The most difficult inclination keeping most people from fully grasping Einstein’s breakthrough regarding gravity is an inability to “let go” of the idea of objects attracting each other as the “essence” of what gravity is. Einstein suggests that gravity has nothing to do with objects “attracting” each other through some kind of “mysterious pulling force.” He proposed that objects, particularly massive objects, altered the dimension, or fabric, of space and time. This alteration of the “space-time continuum” affected other objects in the space-time continuum. All movement in the universe is the result of gravity and its influence on the space-time continuum.
This sounds good, and we generally nod our heads in agreement when we hear it. But what does it really mean? In this week’s newsletter, I use an amusement park analogy to explain the complexity of Einstein’s revolutionary understanding of gravity.
CONSIDERATION #71 – The Log-Ride of Gravity
Newton suggested that the earth had a “pull” on the moon that kept it orbiting around the planet. Einstein suggested that the earth had enough mass to “sink” into space-time allowing a warp, or curve; creating a large “dimple” in the fabric of space-time. The moon has less mass than the earth, therefore if it gets close enough to the earth it will “fall” into the dimple and continue moving toward the earth.
“Curvatures in the space-time continuum also increase the acceleration of an object’s motion.”
However, because it has enough mass of its own, the moon will warp some of the space-time within the “dimple” into its own curvature, instead of falling all the way into the earth. Curvatures in the space-time continuum also increase the acceleration of an object’s motion. Because space is a vacuum, and there is no friction, the moon stops falling toward the earth, instead accelerating along its own gravitation path around the earth essentially forever.
For our last example I will consider something a little closer to home, the log ride at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California.
“You, and the log, have enough mass so that the log sinks into the water of the channel…”
After reaching the top of a mountain, you are put into “logs” that are in channels filled with water. You, and the log, have enough mass so that the log sinks into the water of the channel, or trough. The log is then dropped from the top of the mountain and follows the channel curving and winding all the way around the mountain, using the water to reduce friction, until you safely arrive at the end of the ride.
“…if the ‘curved space’ forming the trough, or channel, were filled, only a flat plane would remain.”
You could safely ride this attraction repeatedly “forever.” However, if the “curved space” forming the trough, or channel, were filled, only a flat plane would remain. There would be no “trough” for the log to “sink into” and follow, only a “flat plane;” causing the log to just slide off the mountain and smash into the ground when it is dropped from the top of the mountain.
The earth’s gravitational influence is the mountain. The log is the moon. The frictionless trough is gravity. The ground is the earth. Who said General Relativity wasn’t simple!
POSTSCRIPT
Hopefully, you have a better “picture” of what gravity “looks like” according to Einstein. This is important because the consequences of such a perception are revolutionary. Even Einstein was reluctant to support some of the predictions suggested by his own theories. Special and General Relativity Theories transformed our understanding of the Universe and Reality. The “solid” empirical universe was not so solid and empirical. Einstein’s universe was a rational universe, supported by rational concepts.
“…it was a universe that was ‘counter-intuitive’ to the physical senses.”
A universe in which time was an illusion and objects affected the dimension of space was a universe that could not be interpreted through the five senses. In fact, it was a universe that was “counter-intuitive” to the physical senses. It would become even more counter-intuitive in the quantum reality of atoms and subatomic particles. Science was shifting, from an investigation of the empirical universe to a consideration of a purely rational reality.
Next week we consider Einstein’s most famous prediction resulting from General Relativity: Black Holes!
Expand the Conversation by Upgrading to “Reality by a Thread!”
Excerpt from Tomorrow’s Untangling the Knots of Reality – Podcast #36: "Untangling Voltaire’s Understanding of Tolerance & Freedom of Expression"
This Week on “The Thread”:
•Untangling the Knots of Reality Podcast: #36 "Untangling Voltaire’s Understanding of Tolerance & Freedom of Expression" (“Voltaire is perhaps the most quoted of all the Enlightenment thinkers and philosophers. He was imprisoned in the infamous Bastille twice and lived most of his life in fear of government retribution. Nevertheless, Voltaire publicly fought for religious tolerance and freedom of thought and expression his entire life…” )
•Reality by a Thread Discussion Thread: Previewing Book V Excerpt – Physical Being: Becoming and Temporal Awareness (“The first level of Being is completely rational. Therefore, we can’t “know” it empirically. This is why there is still not a commonly accepted “objective” description or explanation for it. It is also why Kant ex-communicated it from the discipline of science. However, the remaining two levels of Being are empirical, and therefore objective in nature; they are applicable in the discipline of science. They are both forms of “Physical Being.” The second level of Being is the “process” Hegel calls “Becoming.” The essential distinction between Level One and Level Two Being is time...”)
•FREE PDF Download of Book IV: “The Cosmic Symphony – Overtones of String Theory” plus other Free Books, Discounts and Benefits.
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Book II – The Power of Three
"Understanding Reality Through Science & Religion"
The once common assumption that human experience was a balance of physical and spiritual components was more and more becoming a choice: Do you believe in the “spiritual world” or the “real world?” Like the essential constituents of geometry and atoms, the underlying foundation for the experience of Christianity, the religion of the West, would also be based on a set of three abstractions: The Holy Trinity.
Science became the religion of the “real” world, and theology became the “science” of the spiritual world…
• How did the West expand the possibility of Dualism?
• What were the metaphysical foundations behind the Age of Science?
• What does Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity tell us about energy and matter?
• How did Einstein's General Theory of Relativity alter our perception of the universe?
• Why does the Bible have an "Old Testament" and a "New Testament?"
• Who was Abraham, and how did he become the Patriarch of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam?
• How did the story of Moses change and influence Western culture?
• What was the essential message of Jesus' teaching in the Gospels?
• What is the mystery that transcends Physics and Metaphysics?