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Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / So.. what precisely is Gravity?? Does anyone know?
« on: 07/01/2013 08:00:08 »
So does anyone know just what gravity is??
Gravitons? are they a real thing? If spacetime really is curved (the marble on a sheet of rubber analogy) there isn't any need for gravitons as the marble just sits at the lowest point.
An object orbiting another object just goes along the curved path that result in net zero 'force'.
Curvature of spacetime makes orbiting object want to move towards the object being orbited and its 'straight line' motion makes it want to move away.. they balance and it goes around - why do we need gravitons at all.?
Alternatively if spacetime isn't curved or you just cant analogise this way then how do gravitons (theoretically) work?
As I understand it if we detect gravitational waves one day it will not be gravitons we are detecting but rather we will notice effects on other particles (photons say or variations in pulsar timings etc) from which we can infer the existence of gravitational waves as opposed to a 'direct' detection.
So what would it be about gravitons that makes the earth want to move towards the sun for example?
Anyone?
Gravitons? are they a real thing? If spacetime really is curved (the marble on a sheet of rubber analogy) there isn't any need for gravitons as the marble just sits at the lowest point.
An object orbiting another object just goes along the curved path that result in net zero 'force'.
Curvature of spacetime makes orbiting object want to move towards the object being orbited and its 'straight line' motion makes it want to move away.. they balance and it goes around - why do we need gravitons at all.?
Alternatively if spacetime isn't curved or you just cant analogise this way then how do gravitons (theoretically) work?
As I understand it if we detect gravitational waves one day it will not be gravitons we are detecting but rather we will notice effects on other particles (photons say or variations in pulsar timings etc) from which we can infer the existence of gravitational waves as opposed to a 'direct' detection.
So what would it be about gravitons that makes the earth want to move towards the sun for example?
Anyone?