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Earth's magnetic field 'boosts gravity'
New Scientist ^
| 09:20 22 September 02
| Michael Brooks
Posted on 09/23/2002 11:11:32 AM PDT by VadeRetro
Exclusive from New Scientist
Hidden extra dimensions are causing measurements of the strength of gravity at different locations on Earth to be affected by the planet's magnetic field, French researchers say.
This is a controversial claim because no one has ever provided experimental evidence to support either the existence of extra dimensions or any interaction between gravity and electromagnetism. But lab measurements of Newton's gravitational constant G suggest that both are real.
Newton's constant, which describes the strength of the gravitational pull that bodies exert on each other, is the most poorly determined of the constants of nature. The two most accurate measurements have experimental errors of 1 part in 10,000, yet their values differ by 10 times that amount. So physicists are left with no idea of its absolute value.
Now Jean-Paul Mbelek and Marc Lachieze-Ray of the French Atomic Energy Commission near Paris say they can resolve the contradiction by taking into account the location of the labs where the experiments were carried out.
The pair suggest that electromagnetism and gravity influence one another enough for gravity's pull to be noticeably affected by the Earth's magnetic field.
String theory
Their work is based on theories such as string theory that try to unify all the forces, including electromagnetism and gravity, by invoking the existence of several extra spatial dimensions.
In a paper submitted to Classical and Quantum Gravity and presented at a meeting of the European Astronomical Society in Porto, Portugal, the researchers calculated the values they would expect G to have at different locations around the world. They say it should be greater where the Earth's magnetic field is stronger, with the highest measurements at the north and south magnetic poles.
The rest of the article.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
TOPICS: News/Current Events; Technical
KEYWORDS: catastrophism; crevolist; darkenergy; darkmatter; electrogravitics; gps; gravity; magneticfield; magnetism; poleshift; realscience; stringtheory; theoryofeverything
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1
posted on
09/23/2002 11:11:33 AM PDT
by
VadeRetro
To: Physicist; longshadow; PatrickHenry; general_re; balrog666; *crevo_list; RadioAstronomer; ...
Ping!
2
posted on
09/23/2002 11:13:30 AM PDT
by
VadeRetro
To: VadeRetro
anyway that I can loose 20 lbs from this?
3
posted on
09/23/2002 11:17:26 AM PDT
by
woofie
To: VadeRetro
No need for that "Fat Tax" after all, as I don't weigh as much as I thought! <|:)~
To: sasquatch
ping for Roddenberry.
To: VadeRetro
Those hidden extra dimensions are probably misunderstood parts of one dimension.
6
posted on
09/23/2002 11:21:18 AM PDT
by
Consort
To: VadeRetro
My husband loves to laugh at me because I once told him that one of these days they'll prove there is no such thing as "gravity," or "gravitons," that the force we feel as gravity is a vector, a resultant force from several forces affecting the neighborhood.
Sometimes I wonder if there were many big bangs, and there are waves of universes in front of us and behind us, so to speak.
To: woofie
anyway that I can loose 20 lbs from this? If going to the North Pole doesn't work, try going to the equator.
8
posted on
09/23/2002 11:23:49 AM PDT
by
VadeRetro
To: VadeRetro
I donno. Were there anything to this, any electric motor or electro magnet should weigh more (or maybe less?) when it's operating, compared to when it's not. Wouldn't this have been observed by now? (Maybe not, if no one ever thought to look.)
To: VadeRetro
Funny how the New Scientist announces biweekly that the laws of physics have been overturned.
To: PatrickHenry
No doubt that's why thinking too hard makes my head get heavy and I fall asleep.
To: VadeRetro
How can you sleep at night?
;^)
12
posted on
09/23/2002 11:26:08 AM PDT
by
js1138
To: Physicist
Funny how the New Scientist announces biweekly that the laws of physics have been overturned. They should do it twice a week, doubling their chance of being right in a given time frame.
To: VadeRetro
I have found that Smucker's strawberry perserves, when generously smeared on croissants, also seems to boost gravity. At least my gravity.
To: VadeRetro
If true, this is huge!
15
posted on
09/23/2002 11:33:10 AM PDT
by
sourcery
To: patriciaruth
My husband loves to laugh at me because I once told him that one of these days they'll prove there is no such thing as "gravity," or "gravitons," that the force we feel as gravity is a vector, a resultant force from several forces affecting the neighborhood. EM and what else? There aren't that many forces in physics.
Sometimes I wonder if there were many big bangs, and there are waves of universes in front of us and behind us, so to speak.
Reminds me of "the Deteriorata" (parody of that New Age Desiderata). "You are a fluke of the universe, and whether or not you can understand it the universe is laughing behind your back."
To: PatrickHenry
You can't spell "gravity" without "gravy."
To: VadeRetro
To: patriciaruth
Already (one page read), I like the colors. Reminds me of
Time Cube, but then I was educated stupid by evil dumb teachers.
To: VadeRetro
Variations in the earth's gravitational field and surface gravitation have been known for some time. Gravitation is the result of mass and mass density. This varies at different places within the earth.
20
posted on
09/23/2002 11:45:08 AM PDT
by
RLK
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