Gravity. Its what keeps us on the ground and makes things fall when you drop them. Simples Right.
Newton and Einstein spent ages looking into it in great detail and sussed it surely. Well yes they worked out very well HOW it works. Essentially, Mass Attracts Mass, Bigger Mass = Stronger Gravity, Distance Matters. BUT we don’t know how it works at the deepest level. In fact we have no idea what exactly creates gravity.
We live with gravity every second, but it’s still one of the biggest mysteries in physics. Gravity affects everything, apples, planets, stars, black holes, even light, space and time. Amazingly gravity has an infinite range unlike the other fundamental forces in nature.
All of Newtons and Einstein’s theories apply perfectly to apples and planets, but completely and utterly break down when we zoom into the tiny world of atoms and particles. The study of Quantum Mechanics does not include gravity in any of its theories. This contradiction between General relativity and quantum theory is one of the biggest unsolved problems in physics.
Our understanding of atoms and elementary particles that make up everything in the universe does not co exist with our current understanding of gravity.
We know mass is involved but that’s about it. Scientists suspect a hypothetical tiny particle called a graviton might be behind it. Nobody has found or detected a graviton and there is no scientific experimental proof of its existence yet.
Given that gravitons are all we have to go on, I am going to try the impossible and explain in my basic terms how I think gravitons may work, so bare with. Feel free to add comments below on how you think gravitons work.
So.. somehow this so called graviton is responsible for transmitting the force of gravity. This means that objects like the earth and an apple would be constantly exchanging invisible massless gravitons which somehow tell the apple to move towards the earth, or indeed the earth to move slightly towards the apple.
When you get loads of gravitons working together such as from black holes they can influence photons or light. It makes me think would a graviton somehow be stronger if it came from a black hole or are there more of them?
I understand the force of gravity is extremely weak compared to the other forces in nature. A possible reason why we can not detect gravitons with current technology. A fridge magnet that uses electro magnetic forces can easily override the entire earths gravity. But then if gravity was even a fraction stronger or weaker then the universe could not exist. It seems its the ultimate perfect strength.
So, as always on www.aldinifish.com I have a few searching questions. Feel free to answer in the comments below.
1. If gravitons are massless then I assume they travel at the speed of light. How are they (gravitons) able to escape a black hole and influence the surrounding space outside the black holes event horizon. When photons which are also massless can not escape.
2. Is there a material that might block gravity similar to how lead can block radiation. I will call it a gravitaion shield 2000 (patent pending). Sounds silly but if theses gravitons act like other elementary particles then they can be manipulated in a similar way.
3. My bizarre question would be - is there such a thing as an anti-graviton and therefore Antigravity? You hear so much about particles and their anti particles. From what I can find out gravitons are only positive carrying particles.
4. And now comes perhaps my most bizarre question. Given that gravitons are possibly responsible for gravity, they could also play a role in Einstein’s general relativity theory. I assume they can slow down time if there were huge amounts of gravitons like next to a black hole. What if, yes its a big what if, there was an anti graviton equivalent that could speed up time. We may also need a bit of negative energy but that’s time travel back and forwards solved! I thank you. I will call the machine that enables this a Graviton Engine 2000 (patent pending). It will move faster than light without breaking physics.
A working theory of quantum gravity must explain extreme environments like black holes and the Big Bang, where both quantum mechanics and general relativity are crucial. An alternative leading candidate that may hold the key to understanding what creates gravity and how it works at a deep level is String Theory and thats for another discussion.
Once again thanks for reading. Feel free to add comments below:
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