Posted on 07/13/2010 3:35:33 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
By 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?
So says Erik Verlinde, 48, a respected string theorist and professor of physics at the University of Amsterdam, whose contention that gravity is indeed an illusion has caused a continuing ruckus among physicists, or at least among those who profess to understand it. Reversing the logic of 300 years of science, he argued in a recent paper, titled “On the Origin of Gravity and the Laws of Newton,” that gravity is a consequence of the venerable laws of thermodynamics, which describe the behavior of heat and gases.
“For me gravity doesn’t exist,” said Dr. Verlinde, who was recently in the United States to explain himself. Not that he can’t fall down, but Dr. Verlinde is among a number of physicists who say that science has been looking at gravity the wrong way and that there is something more basic, from which gravity “emerges,” the way stock markets emerge from the collective behavior of individual investors or that elasticity emerges from the mechanics of atoms.
Looking at gravity from this angle, they say, could shed light on some of the vexing cosmic issues of the day, like the dark energy, a kind of anti-gravity that seems to be speeding up the expansion of the universe, or the dark matter that is supposedly needed to hold galaxies together.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Repeal the Law of Gravity!
The String theorists really want this. I suppose it makes their whole viewpoint of how things operate much easier to do.
A Scientist Takes On Obummer`s Verbal Graffiti
So says Erik Verlinde, 48, a respected string-’em-along theorist and professor of physics at the University of Amsterdam, whose contention that Obummer`s Verbal Graffiti is indeed an illusion.
He can believe gravity is an illusion all he wants.
In fact, he can go to the top of any high-rise skyscraper in any city on Earth, step off the roof, and believe all the way down that gravity is an illusion.
Right up until the point he impacts the sidewalk and explodes like a watermelon.
Another interesting take, Why Gravity is Really Pushy:
http://books.google.com/books?id=8pR50SFD4YAC&pg=PA134&lpg=PA134&dq=why+%22gravity+is+really+pushy%22&source=bl&ots=vNgGsSwEvi&sig=L9HX2nqHHW3f5iKabzGPsSo32BU&hl=en&ei=pOs8TJ2EA4ycsQOR_p3aCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=why%20%22gravity%20is%20really%20pushy%22&f=false
Eight years old with flour sack cape
Tied all around his neck
He climbed up on the garage
Figurin’ what the heck
He screwed his courage up so tight
The whole thing come unwound
He got a runnin’ start and bless his heart
He headed for the ground
Guy Clark
#1: String Theory is entirely bunkem...it’s an academic exercise to reconcile Relativity with Quantum Mechanics.
Can’t happen. R and QM are mutually exclusive theories. They could both be wrong, or just one of them could be right, never both. Thus, String Theory is a doomed concept because ST wants to make R and QM both correct. Can’t happen.
#2: dark energy is not real. It’s an academic fudge factor to “explain” why the universe is expanding at faster and faster rates each year...something that modern Physics says is impossible without some unknown energy source.
Except, no such energy source exists.
#3: Gravity itself and Gravity Waves can both be measured. Pretending that they don’t exist or are due to some other Force is silly.
Interesting, in that many people on the evolution side of the fence bristle when people call it only a theory, replying derisively that “gravity is only a theory too.”
I guess they’re right! :)
I guess #1 is why the ST are gaga about this idea. They can’t reconcile gravity and QM so they just get rid of gravity, hee hee.
I’m increasingly of the opinion that string theory and the multi-dimensional universe(s)... is just a cop-out. It’s a kluge. It’s intellectual duct-tape, and it’s what happens when we simply don’t understand something very well at all.
I tend to think that the real answer, whatever it is, is simpler and more elegant.
Hm.
Need Mr. Barclay and Einstein in the holodeck figuring this out, hee hee. (Saw recently a re-run of ST:TNG where what turned out to be aliens jacked up Barclay’s brain)
(just an idea...to long to explain but for year for fun I like to just think and visualize thing at this fundamental level..see it in you head ...just think "sideways" and wrap you head around things like this... "mental stretching" it's very relaxing)
This was some pretty ‘heavy’ material.
I fought the law, and the.. law won....
gravity ..... mass.... density.
That’s all the clues I am giving.
Like Adam on “Mythbusters” says, respect gravity because (using a deep voice) “it’s the law”.
Sorry but I'll believe Erik Verlinde, 48, a respected string theorist and professor of physics at the University of Amsterdam, over a FReeper whose only claim to fame was that he stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night..........
I'm sure he's got more papers published than you too.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.