The field is decreased inside the shell (on the surface of "B," for instance) and increased outside it. The total energy decrease in the combined gravitational fields should equal the e=mc2 equivalent of S.
I suppose. Phys can check me.
Physicist, based on your post here, AndrewC has proposed the following Stump-the-Dummies game:
1) Your link gives me pause. Suppose you have 2 masses A and B separated by some distance R1. Is there a non-zero gravitational field between them?Your comments are appreciated.(Answer: Yes.)
2) Okay then, what happens to that field when a thin spherical shell of R0 < R1 with mass S is placed around "B"?
(Answer given above.)
I blew that part. Adding more mass adds more total gravitational energy. The increase outside beats the decrease inside.
Judging by past experiences with AndrewC, either he believes that he can lawyer established physics into some trivial logical inconsistency that somehow escaped many of the greatest minds in the history of the human race, or he's playing the child's game of iteratively asking, "but why", heedless of the answers he may be given, in hope either of angering the other party, or eventually declaring victory as the last man standing.
At this point, I'm expecting you still to be pinging me to this thread in October. ;^)