Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: nnanto on 26/05/2022 07:15:51
-
I was wondering if empty spaces have some kind of "push" energy associated with it. Filling empty space with matter causes a drop in push energy and the push energy from outside empty spaces acting on the matter in all directions is what we call as gravity?
I'm pretty sure its not right but wanted to understand why
-
Hi @nnanto, welcome to the forum.
Yes, a really good question which I think was asked by many early philosophers and scientists before Newton.
Obviously, if you can’t see the force you don’t know whether it’s a push or pull. The reason we don’t think it’s an effect of empty space is because in every experiment we do it’s the amount of mass in the objects that changes the magnitude of the force. Also, materials of different densities take up varying amounts of space, but again the force is just dependant on the total mass.
-
Yes ,I thought it was a good question too and had no idea it might have been discussed in previous generations.
Is "empty space" ,though an undefined idea and do we fall back on the measured intervals between objects as more reliable points of reference?
So we have objects with measured distances between them dancing with each other and these measured distances ,when set out in geometrical form seem to observe a behaviour that corresponds to what we see as the action of gravity in our world and also at the edges of the observable universe.
Could that be an interpretation ?
-
Hi.
So we have objects with measured distances between them dancing with each other and these measured distances ,when set out in geometrical form seem to observe a behaviour that corresponds to what we see as the action of gravity in our world and also at the edges of the observable universe.
Maybe. We can't see anything at the edge of our universe, if indeed there is one, but if you meant the theory seems to hold everywhere then that's ok.
We do get a good match between where there is stuff and where there is gravity. We have built good theories of gravity that are based on the location of stuff and the amount of mass in that stuff. Those theories are useful, accurate and make predictions that can be tested. In that respect they are good scientific models. It doesn't matter too much if gravity was really "caused" by something else. "Cause" is a very subjective term anyway. Possibly everything was "caused" by something during the big bang when there wasn't any ordinary matter and there may not have been any ordinary distance or space between that matter.
Best Wishes.
-
doesn't matter too much if gravity was really "caused" by something else. "Cause" is a very subjective term anyway
I like that.It is nice to maybe dispense with another misconception.
There is ,I think a misconception that we may be well placed to understand everything
Every day mysteries do no harm.