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Experiments Show Gravity Is Not an Emergent Phenomenon
MIT Technology Review ^ | 08/24/2011 | Staff

Posted on 08/24/2011 2:52:57 PM PDT by Red Badger

The way gravity effects quantum particles proves that it cannot be an emergent phenomenon, says physicist.

One of the most exciting ideas in modern physics is that gravity is not a traditional force, like electromagnetic or nuclear forces. Instead, it is an emergent phenomenon that merely looks like a traditional force.

This approach has been championed by Erik Verlinde at the University of Amsterdam who put forward the idea in 2010. He suggested that gravity is merely a manifestation of entropy in the Universe, which always increases according to the second law of thermodynamics. This causes matter distribute itself in a way that maximises entropy. And the effect of this redistribution looks like a force which we call gravity.

Much of the excitement over Verlinde's idea is that it provides a way to reconcile the contradictions between gravity, which works on a large scale, and quantum mechanics, which works on a tiny scale.

The key idea is that gravity is essentially a statistical effect. As long as each particle is influenced by a statistically large number of other particles, gravity emerges. That's why it's a large-scale phenomenon.

But today, Archil Kobakhidze at The University of Melbourne in Australia points to a serious problem with this approach. He naturally asks how gravity can influence quantum particles.

Kobakhidze argues that since each quantum particle must be described by a large number of other particles, this leads to a particular equation that describes the effect of gravity.

But here's the thing: the conventional view of gravity leads to a different equation.

In other words, the emergent and traditional views of gravity make different predictions about the gravitational force a quantum particle ought to experience. And that opens the way for an experimental test.

As it happens, physicists have been measuring the force of gravity on neutrons for ten yeas or so. And...wait for the drum roll... the results exactly match the predictions of traditional gravitational theory, says Kobakhidze.

"Experiments on gravitational bound states of neutrons unambiguously disprove the entropic origin of gravitation," he says.

That's an impressive piece of physics. It'll be interesting to see how Verlinde and his supporters respond.

Ref: arxiv.org/abs/1108.4161: Once More: Gravity Is Not An Entropic Force


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Technical
KEYWORDS: electrogravitics; force; gravity; physics; unifiedtheory
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To: FredZarguna
I'm soooooo glad I stopped doing Acid in the 70's. I highly recommend your at least cutting back.

That's the whole theory behind Quantum. Noting exist until it's observed.

One photon can be split into two, and the two "communicate." One does the exact same thing as the other. Newtonian physics can't explain that, but Quantum physics can. If conciseness isn't there to witness the photon, is it really a mass, or is it a blur of "holographic" quantum, or super strings? How can a photon do things that science today cannot explain, unless there's something holding the two together across distances? How could they communicate without the strings that spread out and intertwine between the atoms? How could they communicate unless those strings are connected to the photons, or ARE the photons?

81 posted on 08/24/2011 4:12:35 PM PDT by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: roadcat

In my mind, gravity depresses the ‘fabric’ of space-time, like Einstein says. Every particle that has ‘mass’ does so to the limits of its mass. Two particles of equal mass do twice as much. Therfore they add together and join in the depression force.
Think of a universe that has only two hydrogen atoms in it, separated by a billion light years. Eventually, those two atoms will meet, or at least orbit around their common center of mass........


82 posted on 08/24/2011 4:12:39 PM PDT by Red Badger ("Treason doth never prosper.... What's the reason? Why if it prosper, none dare call it treason.")
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To: the invisib1e hand
I regards to relativity and idea of a natural speed limit ...

That nothing can go faster then light

...not that light is the reason...

it just light is what we see hitting the speed limit

The thought experiment I came up with to see this idea of a natural speed limit is ...

imagine some one running in a circle going faster and faster...

at what point to they catch and pass there-self?...

silly right?

but you start to see the issues with time and space....

oddly to an outside looker the someone running in a circle going faster and faster would start look like a single object occupying the entire circle

And pump in more energy to try go in a circle even faster

that single object occupying the entire circle starts looking denser and heaver

I see matter really an oscillating engery wave from this

83 posted on 08/24/2011 4:12:55 PM PDT by tophat9000 (American is Barack Oaken)
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To: bigheadfred
It's not a religion, unless you're saying the goal is pursued so single-mindedly and without regard for its plausibility that it takes on the aspects of zealotry.

However, we actually have good reasons for believing unification is possible. One such reason concerns gravity: the inertial mass and the gravitational mass appear to always be the same in every case that we know (Equivalence Principle of General Relativity.) That supports the idea that mass is a universal property of all particles, including the gauge bosons, and since they all "experience" this force, all those forces must be related.

84 posted on 08/24/2011 4:13:16 PM PDT by FredZarguna (The power of the greatest rock band of all time--now a crack legal team. Coming to ABC this fall!)
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To: HiTech RedNeck; yarddog
I don’t remember if they had to always make sure that books, pencils, glasses containing beverages, etc. were tied down.

When they teleported to other ships, even old, dead derelicts, they never seemed to lack gravity.

85 posted on 08/24/2011 4:13:33 PM PDT by Grizzled Bear (No More RINOs!!!)
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To: jnsun

I believe gravity is an effect of mass...


86 posted on 08/24/2011 4:14:31 PM PDT by Red Badger ("Treason doth never prosper.... What's the reason? Why if it prosper, none dare call it treason.")
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To: Lorianne

Because it isn’t science.


87 posted on 08/24/2011 4:14:31 PM PDT by FredZarguna (The power of the greatest rock band of all time--now a crack legal team. Coming to ABC this fall!)
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To: FredZarguna

That’s why I said curious particles, not fundamental ones. The fact they can and do glom together (scientific term) to do the things they do, is itself a wonder. And the panoply of atoms is hardly infinite — there are what, maybe eighty elements (plus their isotopes) that figure significantly in the operation of the world as we know it? The others being mainly laboratory curiosities? Some see chance, I see wisdom.


88 posted on 08/24/2011 4:14:35 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (There's gonna be a Redneck Revolution! (See my freep page) [rednecks come in many colors])
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To: tophat9000; The Invisible Hand
An implication of Relativity IS A FACT.
89 posted on 08/24/2011 4:16:17 PM PDT by FredZarguna (The power of the greatest rock band of all time--now a crack legal team. Coming to ABC this fall!)
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To: concerned about politics

“It is now a human reality, because it is believed.”

I’ll have to check that theory out, I don’t think I’ve heard it before. Sounds like something inspired by Peter Pan or the Never-Ending Story, where imaginary creatures need us to believe in them in order to exist.


90 posted on 08/24/2011 4:17:40 PM PDT by Boogieman
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To: Boogieman

It sounds like the old philosophical question of whether there was a sound if a tree fell in a forest with nobody there to hear it.


91 posted on 08/24/2011 4:21:01 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (There's gonna be a Redneck Revolution! (See my freep page) [rednecks come in many colors])
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To: concerned about politics; Williams
There are things Newtonian physics can't explain that Quantum physics can. Because Newtonian physicists can't draw a diagram of how the quantum works, they simply deny their existence. Quantum physicists agree with Newton, but on the other hand, they're searching even deeper, because the world and it's miracles are still vastly unknown. There are too many "quirks" associated with the human existence for Newtonians to explain (if someone could get them to believe they exist, i.e., the human energy field, spontaneous healing, ESP, telepathy, worm holes, time space, synchronicities...).

Not one word of what you have posted is true.

There are NO "Newtonians." Newtonian Physics is an approximate theory of nature that is included as part of quantum theory. In the limit as Planck's constant becomes small relative to the size of the problem domain, Newtonian Physics is correct to a very high degree of approximation. But there is NO Physicist now alive who believes that Newtonian mechanics is fundamentally correct.

92 posted on 08/24/2011 4:21:08 PM PDT by FredZarguna (The power of the greatest rock band of all time--now a crack legal team. Coming to ABC this fall!)
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To: Charles H. (The_r0nin)
They even flew atomic clocks around the globe and demonstrated that they had experienced less time passing. This particular phenomenon is about as ironclad as you get in an experimental science...

Not to quibble too much, but the clocks on GPS satellites run faster than earth bound clocks due to the acceleration of gravity. Their actual speed has much less effect than gravity.

93 posted on 08/24/2011 4:21:18 PM PDT by LeGrande ("life's tough; it's tougher if you're stupid." John Wayne)
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To: concerned about politics
That's the whole theory behind Quantum. Noting exist until it's observed.

That's complete nonsense. That is not what Quantum Theory says. If you're trying to say something about the Copenhagen School Interpretation, you're mangling very badly, and this isn't even close.

And in any event, very few Physicists agree with the Copenhagen Interpretation any more.

94 posted on 08/24/2011 4:24:25 PM PDT by FredZarguna (The power of the greatest rock band of all time--now a crack legal team. Coming to ABC this fall!)
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To: Boogieman; concerned about politics

No need to check it out. It’s complete rubbish. It’s the “Art Bell” version of Quantum Mechanics.


95 posted on 08/24/2011 4:26:11 PM PDT by FredZarguna (The power of the greatest rock band of all time--now a crack legal team. Coming to ABC this fall!)
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To: GreenHornet

In nursing school we were taught that gravity is the force that pulls all things to the center of the earth...therefore face ages first, and legs being closer to the center of the earth already, age last....I have seen some old gals that still had great looking legs...


96 posted on 08/24/2011 4:26:41 PM PDT by goat granny
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To: Red Badger; jnsun
I believe gravity is an effect of mass...

John Wheeler “Matter tells spacetime how to curve, and spacetime tells matter how to move”

97 posted on 08/24/2011 4:26:54 PM PDT by LeGrande ("life's tough; it's tougher if you're stupid." John Wayne)
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To: Boogieman
I’ll have to check that theory out, I don’t think I’ve heard it before. Sounds like something inspired by Peter Pan or the Never-Ending Story,

The Holographic Universe, by Michael Talbot.
I'm not referring to a real hologram made with lasers. It's an analogy. The universe is all connected, and conciseness has an effect on it.

98 posted on 08/24/2011 4:27:47 PM PDT by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: MNDude

Fire good.
Meat good.
Gravity good but men in white coat cannot explain.


99 posted on 08/24/2011 4:27:58 PM PDT by dangerdoc (see post #6)
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To: concerned about politics; Red Badger

” undectable jello “

Had that for desert last night. My gutz have been messed up all day!

Badge,,,, this one is beyond me. I’m very interested in science, but,,,,,


100 posted on 08/24/2011 4:30:19 PM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ( Ya can't pick up a turd by the clean end!)
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