Gravity: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|Attraction of masses and energy}} |
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{{Redirect|Gravity}} |
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{{Other uses}} |
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{{about|the natural phenomenon}} |
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[[Image:Solar sys.jpg|right|350px|thumb|Gravitation keeps the planets in orbit about the Sun. (Not to scale)]] |
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{{redirect-multi|2|Gravitation|Law of Gravity}} |
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{{Use American English|date=December 2024}} |
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{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}} |
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[[File:UGC 1810 and UGC 1813 in Arp 273 (captured by the Hubble Space Telescope).jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|The shapes of two massive [[galaxy|galaxies]] in the photo are distorted due to gravity.]] |
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{{Classical mechanics}} |
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In physics, '''gravity''' ({{Etymology|lat|gravitas|weight}}<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://browse.dict.cc/latin-english/gravitas.html |title=dict.cc dictionary :: gravitas :: English-Latin translation |access-date=11 September 2018 |archive-date=13 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813203625/https://browse.dict.cc/latin-english/gravitas.html |url-status=live }}</ref>) is a [[fundamental interaction]] primarily observed as mutual attraction between all things that have [[mass]]. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 10<sup>38</sup> times weaker than the [[strong interaction]], 10<sup>36</sup> times weaker than the [[electromagnetic force]] and 10<sup>29</sup> times weaker than the [[weak interaction]]. As a result, it has no significant influence at the level of [[subatomic particle]]s.<ref>{{cite book |title=Scientific Development and Misconceptions Through the Ages: A Reference Guide |edition=illustrated |first1=Robert E. |last1=Krebs |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-313-30226-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/scientificdevelo0000kreb/page/133 133] |url=https://archive.org/details/scientificdevelo0000kreb|url-access=registration }}</ref> However, gravity is the most significant interaction between objects at the [[macroscopic scale]], and it determines the motion of [[planet]]s, [[star]]s, [[Galaxy|galaxies]], and even [[Electromagnetic radiation|light]]. |
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'''Gravitation''' is a [[natural phenomenon]] by which objects with [[mass]] attract one another.<ref name="Does Gravity Travel at the Speed of Light?">[http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/GR/grav_speed.html Does Gravity Travel at the Speed of Light?], ''UCR Mathematics''. 1998. Retrieved [[3 July]] [[2008]]</ref> In everyday life, gravitation is most commonly thought of as the agency which lends [[weight]] to objects with mass. Gravitation causes dispersed matter to coalesce, thus accounting for the existence of the [[Earth]], the [[Sun]], and most of the macroscopic objects in the [[universe]]. It is responsible for keeping the Earth and the other planets in their [[orbit]]s around the Sun; for keeping the [[Moon]] in its orbit around the Earth; for the formation of [[tide]]s; for [[convection]], by which fluid flow occurs under the influence of a density gradient and gravity; for heating the interiors of forming stars and planets to very high temperatures; and for various other phenomena observed on Earth. Modern [[physics]] describes gravitation using the [[general theory of relativity]], in which gravitation is a consequence of the curvature of spacetime which governs the motion of inertial objects. The simpler [[Newton's law of universal gravitation]] provides an accurate approximation for most calculations. |
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[[Gravity of Earth|On Earth]], gravity gives [[weight]] to [[physical object]]s, and the [[gravitation of the Moon|Moon's gravity]] is responsible for sublunar [[tide]]s in the oceans. The corresponding antipodal tide is caused by the inertia of the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Gravity also has many important biological functions, helping to guide the growth of plants through the process of [[gravitropism]] and influencing the [[Circulatory system|circulation]] of fluids in [[multicellular organism]]s. |
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The terms '''gravitation''' and '''gravity''' are mostly interchangeable in everyday use, however a distinction is made in scientific circles. "Gravitation" is a general term describing the phenomenon by which bodies with mass are attracted to one another, while "gravity" refers specifically to the force exerted by the Earth on objects in its vicinity, which depends on its mass as well as other factors, such as Earth's rotation.<ref>[http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/Earth--Atmospheric--and-Planetary-Sciences/12-090Spring-2007/LectureNotes/earthsurface_10.pdf Earth Surface (lecture notes)]</ref><ref>[http://alex.edfac.usyd.edu.au/Methods/Science/studentwork/MassoftheEarth/gravitationandgravity.htm Gravitation and Gravity]</ref> |
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The gravitational attraction between the original gaseous matter in the [[universe]] caused it to [[coalescence (physics)|coalesce]] and [[star formation|form stars]] which eventually condensed into galaxies, so gravity is responsible for many of the large-scale structures in the universe. Gravity has an infinite range, although its effects become weaker as objects get farther away. |
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== History of gravitational theory == |
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Gravity is most accurately described by the [[general relativity|general theory of relativity]], proposed by [[Albert Einstein]] in 1915, which describes gravity not as a force, but as the [[curvature]] of [[spacetime]], caused by the uneven distribution of mass, and causing masses to move along [[geodesic]] lines. The most extreme example of this curvature of spacetime is a [[black hole]], from which nothing—not even light—can escape once past the black hole's [[event horizon]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/black_holes/home.html|title=HubbleSite: Black Holes: Gravity's Relentless Pull|website=hubblesite.org|access-date=7 October 2016|archive-date=26 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226185228/http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/black_holes/home.html|url-status=live}}</ref> However, for most applications, gravity is well approximated by [[Newton's law of universal gravitation]], which describes gravity as a [[force]] causing any two bodies to be attracted toward each other, with magnitude [[proportionality (mathematics)|proportional]] to the product of their masses and [[inversely proportional]] to the [[square (algebra)|square]] of the [[distance]] between them. |
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Current models of [[particle physics]] imply that the earliest instance of gravity in the universe, possibly in the form of [[quantum gravity]], [[supergravity]] or a [[gravitational singularity]], along with ordinary [[space]] and [[time]], developed during the [[Chronology of the universe#Planck epoch|Planck epoch]] (up to 10<sup>−43</sup> seconds after the [[Big Bang|birth]] of the universe), possibly from a primeval state, such as a [[false vacuum]], [[quantum vacuum]] or [[virtual particle]], in a currently unknown manner.<ref name="Planck-UOregon">{{cite web |author=Staff |title=Birth of the Universe |url=http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/cosmo/lectures/lec20.html |website=[[University of Oregon]] |access-date=24 September 2016 |archive-date=28 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181128045313/http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/cosmo/lectures/lec20.html |url-status=live }} – discusses "[[Planck time]]" and "[[Planck era]]" at the [[Big Bang|very beginning]] of the Universe</ref> Scientists are currently working to develop a theory of gravity consistent with [[quantum mechanics]], a quantum gravity theory,<ref name="NYT-20221010">{{cite news |last=Overbye |first=Dennis |author-link=Dennis Overbye |title=Black Holes May Hide a Mind-Bending Secret About Our Universe - Take gravity, add quantum mechanics, stir. What do you get? Just maybe, a holographic cosmos. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/10/science/black-holes-cosmology-hologram.html |date=10 October 2022 |work=[[The New York Times]] |accessdate=10 October 2022 |archive-date=16 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116151210/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/10/science/black-holes-cosmology-hologram.html |url-status=live }}</ref> which would allow gravity to be united in a common mathematical framework (a [[theory of everything]]) with the other three fundamental interactions of physics. |
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==Definitions== |
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{{Dfn|Gravitation}}, also known as gravitational attraction, is the mutual attraction between all masses in the universe. Gravity is the gravitational attraction at the surface of a planet or other celestial body;<ref>{{harvtxt|McGraw-Hill Dict|1989}}</ref> gravity may also include, in addition to gravitation, the [[centrifugal force]] resulting from the planet's rotation {{Xref|text=(see {{slink||Earth's gravity}})|printworthy=1}}.<ref name=HWM/> |
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==History== |
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{{main|History of gravitational theory}} |
{{main|History of gravitational theory}} |
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=== |
===Ancient world=== |
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The nature and mechanism of gravity were explored by a wide range of ancient scholars. In [[Greece]], [[Aristotle]] believed that objects fell towards the Earth because the Earth was the center of the Universe and attracted all of the mass in the Universe towards it. He also thought that the speed of a falling object should increase with its weight, a conclusion that was later shown to be false.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cappi |first=Alberto |title=The concept of gravity before Newton |url=http://www.cultureandcosmos.org/pdfs/16/Cappi_INSAPVII_Gravity_before_Newton.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.cultureandcosmos.org/pdfs/16/Cappi_INSAPVII_Gravity_before_Newton.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live |website=Culture and Cosmos}}</ref> While Aristotle's view was widely accepted throughout Ancient Greece, there were other thinkers such as [[Plutarch]] who correctly predicted that the attraction of gravity was not unique to the Earth.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bakker |first1=Frederik |last2=Palmerino |first2=Carla Rita |date=1 June 2020 |title=Motion to the Center or Motion to the Whole? Plutarch's Views on Gravity and Their Influence on Galileo |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/709138 |journal=Isis |volume=111 |issue=2 |pages=217–238 |doi=10.1086/709138 |s2cid=219925047 |issn=0021-1753 |hdl=2066/219256 |hdl-access=free |access-date=2 May 2022 |archive-date=2 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220502172704/https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/709138 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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Modern work on gravitational theory began with the work of [[Galileo Galilei]] in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. In his famous (though possibly apocryphal)<ref name=Ball_Piza>{{ cite journal |last=Ball |first=Phil |year=2005 |month=06 |title=Tall Tales |journal=Nature News |doi=10.1038/news050613-10 |accessdate=2008-08-05 }}</ref> experiment dropping balls from the [[Leaning Tower of Pisa|Tower of Pisa]], and later with careful measurements of balls rolling down [[Inclined plane|inclines]], Galileo showed that gravitation accelerates all objects at the same rate. This was a major departure from Aristotle's belief that heavier objects are accelerated faster.<ref>[[Galileo]] (1638), ''[[Two New Sciences]]'', [http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=753&chapter=109891&layout=html&Itemid=27 First Day] Salviati speaks: "If this were what Aristotle meant you would burden him with another error which would amount to a falsehood; because, since there is no such sheer height available on earth, it is clear that Aristotle could not have made the experiment; yet he wishes to give us the impression of his having performed it when he speaks of such an effect as one which we see."</ref> Galileo correctly postulated air resistance as the reason that lighter objects may fall more slowly in an atmosphere. Galileo's work set the stage for the formulation of Newton's theory of gravity. |
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Although he did not understand gravity as a force, the ancient Greek philosopher [[Archimedes]] discovered the [[center of gravity]] of a triangle.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Reviel Neitz |author2=William Noel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZC1MOaAkKnsC&pg=PT125 |title=The Archimedes Codex: Revealing The Secrets of the World's Greatest Palimpsest |date=13 October 2011 |publisher=Hachette UK |isbn=978-1-78022-198-4 |page=125 |access-date=10 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200107004958/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZC1MOaAkKnsC&pg=PT125 |archive-date=7 January 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> He postulated that if two equal weights did not have the same center of gravity, the center of gravity of the two weights together would be in the middle of the line that joins their centers of gravity.<ref>{{cite book |author=CJ Tuplin, Lewis Wolpert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ajGkvOo0egwC&pg=PR11 |title=Science and Mathematics in Ancient Greek Culture |publisher=Hachette UK |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-19-815248-4 |page=xi |access-date=10 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200117170945/https://books.google.com/books?id=ajGkvOo0egwC&pg=PR11 |archive-date=17 January 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> Two centuries later, the Roman engineer and architect Vitruvius contended in his ''De architectura'' that gravity is not dependent on a substance's weight but rather on its "nature".<ref>{{Cite book | last = Vitruvius | first = Marcus Pollio | author-link = Marcus Vitruvius Pollio | editor = Alfred A. Howard | title = De Architectura libri decem | trans-title = Ten Books on Architecture | place = Harvard University, Cambridge | publisher = Harvard University Press | date = 1914 | chapter = 7 | page = 215 | chapter-url = http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20239/20239-h/29239-h.htm#Page_215 | others = Herbert Langford Warren, Nelson Robinson (illus), Morris Hicky Morgan | access-date = 10 April 2019 | archive-date = 13 October 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161013193438/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20239/20239-h/29239-h.htm#Page_215 | url-status = live }}</ref> |
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=== Newton's theory of gravitation === |
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In the 6th century CE, the Byzantine Alexandrian scholar John Philoponus proposed the theory of impetus, which modifies Aristotle's theory that "continuation of motion depends on continued action of a force" by incorporating a causative force that diminishes over time.<ref>Philoponus' term for impetus is "ἑνέργεια ἀσώματος κινητική" ("incorporeal motive ''[[Potentiality and actuality|enérgeia]]''"); see ''[[Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca|CAG]]'' XVII, [https://books.google.com/books?id=dVcqvVDiNVUC ''Ioannis Philoponi in Aristotelis Physicorum Libros Quinque Posteriores Commentaria''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222224140/https://books.google.com/books?id=dVcqvVDiNVUC |date=22 December 2023 }}, [[Walter de Gruyter]], 1888, p. 642: "λέγω δὴ ὅτι ἑνέργειά τις ἀσώματος κινητικὴ ἑνδίδοται ὑπὸ τοῦ ῥιπτοῦντος τῷ ῥιπτουμένῳ [I say that impetus (incorporeal motive energy) is transferred from the thrower to the thrown]."</ref> |
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{{main|Newton's law of universal gravitation}} |
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In 1687, English mathematician Sir [[Isaac Newton]] published ''[[Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica|Principia]]'', which hypothesizes the [[inverse-square law]] of universal gravitation. In his own words, “I deduced that the forces which keep the planets in their orbs must [be] reciprocally as the squares of their distances from the centers about which they revolve: and thereby compared the force requisite to keep the Moon in her Orb with the force of gravity at the surface of the Earth; and found them answer pretty nearly.”<ref>*{{cite book |
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| first= Subrahmanyan |
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| last= Chandrasekhar |
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| authorlink= Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar |
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| title= Newton's Principia for the common reader |
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| year= 2003 |
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| publisher= Oxford University Press |
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| location= Oxford}} (pp.1–2). The quotation comes from a memorandum thought to have been written about 1714. As early as 1645 [[Ismaël Bullialdus]] had argued that any force exerted by the Sun on distant objects would have to follow an inverse-square law. However, he also dismissed the idea that any such force did exist. See, for example, |
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{{cite book | title= From Eudoxus to Einstein—A History of Mathematical Astronomy |
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| author= Linton, Christopher M. |
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| publisher= Cambridge University Press |
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| year= 2004 |
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| location= Cambridge |
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| page= 225 |
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| isbn= 978-0-521-82750-8 |
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| ref= Linton-2004}} |
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</ref> |
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In 628 CE, the [[India|Indian]] mathematician and astronomer [[Brahmagupta]] proposed the idea that gravity is an attractive force that draws objects to the Earth and used the term ''[[wikt:गुरुत्वाकर्षण|gurutvākarṣaṇ]]'' to describe it.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pickover |first1=Clifford |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SQXcpvjcJBUC&pg=PA105 |title=Archimedes to Hawking: Laws of Science and the Great Minds Behind Them |date=16 April 2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199792689 |language=en |access-date=29 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118060420/https://books.google.com/books?id=SQXcpvjcJBUC |archive-date=18 January 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|105}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bose |first1=Mainak Kumar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nbItAAAAMAAJ&q=gravity |title=Late classical India |publisher=A. Mukherjee & Co. |year=1988 |language=en |access-date=28 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813203602/https://books.google.com/books?id=nbItAAAAMAAJ&q=gravity |archive-date=13 August 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Sen |first=Amartya |title=The Argumentative Indian |date=2005 |publisher=Allen Lane |isbn=978-0-7139-9687-6 |page=29}}</ref> |
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Newton's theory enjoyed its greatest success when it was used to predict the existence of [[Neptune]] based on motions of [[Uranus]] that could not be accounted by the actions of the other planets. Calculations by [[John Couch Adams]] and [[Urbain Le Verrier]] both predicted the general position of the planet, and Le Verrier's calculations are what led [[Johann Gottfried Galle]] to the discovery of Neptune. |
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In the ancient [[Middle East]], gravity was a topic of fierce debate. The [[Persians|Persian]] intellectual [[Al-Biruni]] believed that the force of gravity was not unique to the Earth, and he correctly assumed that other [[Astronomical object|heavenly bodies]] should exert a gravitational attraction as well.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Starr |first1=S. Frederick |title=Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691165851 |page=260 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hWyYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA260}}</ref> In contrast, [[Al-Khazini]] held the same position as Aristotle that all matter in the Universe is attracted to the center of the Earth.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science|editor-first=Rāshid|editor-last=Rushdī|date=1996|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=9780415124119|first1=Mariam |last1=Rozhanskaya |first2=I. S. |last2=Levinova |title=Statics |volume=2 |pages=614–642}}</ref> |
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Ironically, it was another discrepancy in a planet's orbit that helped to point out flaws in Newton's theory. By the end of the 19th century, it was known that the orbit of [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]] showed slight perturbations that could not be accounted for entirely under Newton's theory, but all searches for another perturbing body (such as a planet orbiting the [[Sun]] even closer than Mercury) had been fruitless. The issue was resolved in 1915 by [[Albert Einstein]]'s new [[General relativity|General Theory of Relativity]], which accounted for the small discrepancy in Mercury's orbit. |
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[[File:The Leaning Tower of Pisa SB.jpeg|thumb|upright|The [[Leaning Tower of Pisa]], where according to legend Galileo performed an experiment about the speed of falling objects]] |
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Although Newton's theory has been superseded, most modern non-relativistic gravitational calculations are still made using Newton's theory because it is a much simpler theory to work with than [[General relativity]], and gives sufficiently accurate results for most applications. |
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===Scientific revolution=== |
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=== Gravitational torsion, weak equivalence principle and gravitational gradient === |
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{{main|Scientific revolution}} |
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In the mid-16th century, various European scientists experimentally disproved the [[Aristotelian physics|Aristotelian]] notion that heavier objects [[Free fall|fall]] at a faster rate.<ref name="Wallace-2018">{{Cite book|last=Wallace|first=William A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8GxQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PR21|title=Domingo de Soto and the Early Galileo: Essays on Intellectual History|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2018|isbn=978-1-351-15959-3|location=Abingdon, UK|pages=119, 121–22|language=en|orig-year=2004|access-date=4 August 2021|archive-date=16 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616043300/https://books.google.com/books?id=8GxQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PR21|url-status=live}}</ref> In particular, the [[Spanish people|Spanish]] Dominican priest [[Domingo de Soto]] wrote in 1551 that bodies in [[free fall]] uniformly accelerate.<ref name="Wallace-2018"/> De Soto may have been influenced by earlier experiments conducted by other [[Dominican Order|Dominican]] priests in Italy, including those by [[Benedetto Varchi]], Francesco Beato, [[Luca Ghini]], and [[Giovan Battista Bellaso|Giovan Bellaso]] which contradicted Aristotle's teachings on the fall of bodies.<ref name="Wallace-2018"/> |
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The mid-16th century Italian physicist [[Giambattista Benedetti]] published papers claiming that, due to [[relative density|specific gravity]], objects made of the same material but with different masses would fall at the same speed.<ref name="Drabkin">{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1086/349706| issn = 0021-1753| volume = 54| issue = 2| pages = 259–262| last = Drabkin| first = I. E.| title = Two Versions of G. B. Benedetti's Demonstratio Proportionum Motuum Localium| journal = Isis| year = 1963| jstor = 228543| s2cid = 144883728}}</ref> With the 1586 [[Delft tower experiment]], the [[Flanders|Flemish]] physicist [[Simon Stevin]] observed that two cannonballs of differing sizes and weights fell at the same rate when dropped from a tower.<ref name="Stevin">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YicuDwAAQBAJ&dq=delft+tower+experiment&pg=PA26|title=Ripples in Spacetime: Einstein, Gravitational Waves, and the Future of Astronomy|last=Schilling|first=Govert|date=31 July 2017|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674971660|page=26|language=en|access-date=16 December 2021|archive-date=16 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211216025328/https://books.google.com/books?id=YicuDwAAQBAJ&dq=delft+tower+experiment&pg=PA26|url-status=live}}</ref> In the late 16th century, [[Galileo Galilei]]'s careful measurements of balls rolling down [[Inclined plane|inclines]] allowed him to firmly establish that gravitational acceleration is the same for all objects.<ref>[[Galileo]] (1638), ''[[Two New Sciences]]'', First Day Salviati speaks: "If this were what Aristotle meant you would burden him with another error which would amount to a falsehood; because, since there is no such sheer height available on earth, it is clear that Aristotle could not have made the experiment; yet he wishes to give us the impression of his having performed it when he speaks of such an effect as one which we see."</ref> Galileo postulated that [[air resistance]] is the reason that objects with a low density and high [[surface area]] fall more slowly in an atmosphere. |
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{{seealso|Eötvös experiment}} |
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In 1604, Galileo correctly hypothesized that the distance of a falling object is proportional to the [[Square (algebra)|square]] of the time elapsed.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gillispie|first=Charles Coulston|url=https://archive.org/details/edgeofobjectivit00char/page/n13/mode/2up|title=The Edge of Objectivity: An Essay in the History of Scientific Ideas|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1960|isbn=0-691-02350-6|pages=3–6|authorlink=Charles Coulston Gillispie}}</ref> This was later confirmed by Italian scientists [[Jesuits]] [[Francesco Maria Grimaldi|Grimaldi]] and [[Giovanni Battista Riccioli|Riccioli]] between 1640 and 1650. They also calculated the magnitude of [[Earth's gravity|the Earth's gravity]] by measuring the oscillations of a pendulum.<ref>J.L. Heilbron, ''Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979), 180.</ref> |
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[[Loránd Eötvös]] published on surface tension between 1876 and 1886. |
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The Torsion or Eötvös balance, designed by Hungarian Baron [[Loránd Eötvös]], is a sensitive instrument for measuring the density of underlying rock strata. The device measures not only the direction of force of gravity, but the change in the force of gravity's extent in horizontal plane. It determines the distribution of masses in the Earth's crust. The Eötvös torsion balance, an important instrument of geodesy and geophysics throughout the whole world, studies the Earth's physical properties. It is used for mine exploration, and also in the search for minerals, such as oil, coal and ores. |
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Eötvös' law of capillarity ([[weak equivalence principle]]) served as a basis for Einstein's theory of relativity. |
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(Capillarity: the property or exertion of capillary attraction of repulsion, a force that is the resultant of adhesion, cohesion, and surface tension in liquids which are in contact with solids, causing the liquid surface to rise - or be depressed...)<ref>http://www.gap-system.org/~history/Biographies/Eotvos.html</ref><ref>http://zelmanov.ptep-online.com/papers/zj-2008-b2.pdf</ref> These experiments demonstrate that all objects fall at the same rate with negligible friction (including air resistance). The simplest way to test the weak equivalence principle is to drop two objects of different masses or compositions in a vacuum, and see if they hit the ground at the same time. More sophisticated tests use a torsion balance of a type invented by [[Loránd Eötvös]]. Satellite experiments are planned for more accurate experiments in space.<ref name=Dittus>{{cite paper | last=Dittus | first= H| author= | authorlink= | coauthors= C. Lāmmerzahl |
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| title=Experimental Tests of the Equivalence Principle and Newton’s Law in Space | version= | pages= | publisher= | date= | doi= | url=http://www.zarm.uni-bremen.de/2forschung/gravi/publications/papers/2005DittusLaemmerzahl.pdf | format=pdf |
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| id= | accessdate= }}</ref> They verify the weak principle. |
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===Newton's theory of gravitation=== |
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=== General relativity === |
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{{main|Newton's law of universal gravitation|Newton-Hooke priority controversy for the inverse square law}} |
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{{main|Introduction to general relativity}} |
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In 1657, [[Robert Hooke]] published his ''[[Micrographia]]'', in which he hypothesized that the Moon must have its own gravity.{{sfnp|Gribbin|Gribbin|2017|p=57}} In 1666, he added two further principles: that all bodies move in straight lines until deflected by some force and that the attractive force is stronger for closer bodies. In a communication to the Royal Society in 1666, Hooke wrote<ref>{{cite book |last=Stewart |first=Dugald |date=1816 |author-link=Dugald Stewart |title=Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind |volume= 2 |url=https://archive.org/details/b28041604/page/n5/mode/2up |page=[https://archive.org/details/b28041604/page/434/mode/2up 434] |publisher=Constable & Co; Cadell & Davies |location=Edinburgh; London }}</ref> |
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{{General relativity}} |
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{{blockquote|I will explain a system of the world very different from any yet received. It is founded on the following positions. 1. That all the heavenly bodies have not only a gravitation of their parts to their own proper centre, but that they also mutually attract each other within their spheres of action. 2. That all bodies having a simple motion, will continue to move in a straight line, unless continually deflected from it by some extraneous force, causing them to describe a circle, an ellipse, or some other curve. 3. That this attraction is so much the greater as the bodies are nearer. As to the proportion in which those forces diminish by an increase of distance, I own I have not discovered it....}} |
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In '''[[general relativity]]''', the effects of gravitation are ascribed to [[spacetime]] [[curvature]] instead of a force. The starting point for general relativity is the [[equivalence principle]], which equates free fall with inertial motion, and describes free-falling inertial objects as being accelerated relative to non-inertial observers on the ground.<ref>http://www.black-holes.org/relativity6.html</ref><ref>http://laser.phys.ualberta.ca/~egerton/genrel.htm</ref> In [[Newtonian physics]], however, no such acceleration can occur unless at least one of the objects is being operated on by a force. |
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Hooke's 1674 Gresham lecture, ''An Attempt to prove the Annual Motion of the Earth'', explained that gravitation applied to "all celestial bodies"{{sfnp|Hooke|1679|loc='' An Attempt to prove the Annual Motion of the Earth'', [https://archive.org/details/LectionesCutler00Hook/page/n23/mode/2up page 2, 3]}} |
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[[File:Portrait of Sir Isaac Newton, 1689.jpg|thumb|upright|English physicist and mathematician, Sir [[Isaac Newton]] (1642–1727)]] |
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Einstein proposed that spacetime is curved by matter, and that free-falling objects are moving along locally straight paths in curved spacetime. These straight lines are called [[geodesic (general relativity)|geodesics]]. Like Newton's First Law, Einstein's theory stated that if there is a force applied to an object, it would deviate from the geodesics in spacetime.<ref>''Law of Geodesic Motion'' http://blog.sauliaus.info/temp/gravity.pdf</ref> For example, we are no longer following the geodesics while standing because the mechanical resistance of the Earth exerts an upward force on us. Thus, we are non-inertial on the ground. This explains why moving along the geodesics in spacetime is considered inertial. |
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In 1684, Newton sent a manuscript to [[Edmond Halley]] titled ''[[De motu corporum in gyrum]] ('On the motion of bodies in an orbit')'', which provided a physical justification for [[Kepler's laws of planetary motion]].<ref name="Sagan-1997">{{cite book |last1=Sagan |first1=Carl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LhkoowKFaTsC |title=Comet |last2=Druyan |first2=Ann |publisher=Random House |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-3078-0105-0 |location=New York |pages=52–58 |author-link1=Carl Sagan |author-link2=Ann Druyan |access-date=5 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615020250/https://books.google.com/books?id=LhkoowKFaTsC |archive-date=15 June 2021 |url-status=live |name-list-style=amp}}</ref> Halley was impressed by the manuscript and urged Newton to expand on it, and a few years later Newton published a groundbreaking book called ''[[Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica]]'' (''Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy''). In this book, Newton described gravitation as a universal force, and claimed that "the forces which keep the planets in their orbs must [be] reciprocally as the squares of their distances from the centers about which they revolve." This statement was later condensed into the following inverse-square law: |
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<math display="block">F = G \frac{m_1 m_2}{r^2}, </math>where {{mvar|F}} is the force, {{math|''m''<sub>1</sub>}} and {{math|''m''<sub>2</sub>}} are the masses of the objects interacting, {{mvar|r}} is the distance between the centers of the masses and {{math|''G''}} is the [[gravitational constant]] {{physconst|G|after=.|round=3}} |
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Einstein discovered the [[field equation]]s of general relativity, which relate the presence of matter and the curvature of spacetime and are named after him. The [[Einstein field equations]] are a set of 10 [[simultaneous equations|simultaneous]], [[nonlinear system|non-linear]], [[differential equation]]s. The solutions of the field equations are the components of the [[metric tensor (general relativity)|metric tensor]] of spacetime. A metric tensor describes a geometry of spacetime. The geodesic paths for a spacetime are calculated from the metric tensor. |
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Newton's ''Principia'' was well received by the scientific community, and his law of gravitation quickly spread across the European world.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Reception of Newton's Principia |url=http://physics.ucsc.edu/~michael/newtonreception6.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://physics.ucsc.edu/~michael/newtonreception6.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live |access-date=6 May 2022}}</ref> More than a century later, in 1821, his theory of gravitation rose to even greater prominence when it was used to predict the existence of [[Neptune]]. In that year, the French astronomer [[Alexis Bouvard]] used this theory to create a table modeling the orbit of [[Uranus]], which was shown to differ significantly from the planet's actual trajectory. In order to explain this discrepancy, many astronomers speculated that there might be a large object beyond the orbit of Uranus which was disrupting its<!--Uranus's--> orbit. In 1846, the astronomers [[John Couch Adams]] and [[Urbain Le Verrier]] independently used Newton's law to predict Neptune's location in the night sky, and the planet was discovered there within a day.<ref>{{Cite web |title=This Month in Physics History |url=http://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/202008/history.cfm |access-date=6 May 2022 |website=www.aps.org |language=en |archive-date=6 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220506231353/https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/202008/history.cfm |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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Notable solutions of the Einstein field equations include: |
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* The [[Schwarzschild solution]], which describes spacetime surrounding a [[Circular symmetry|spherically symmetric]] non-[[rotation|rotating]] uncharged massive object. For compact enough objects, this solution generated a [[black hole]] with a central [[gravitational singularity|singularity]]. For radial distances from the center which are much greater than the [[Schwarzschild radius]], the accelerations predicted by the Schwarzschild solution are practically identical to those predicted by Newton's theory of gravity. |
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* The [[Reissner–Nordström metric|Reissner-Nordström solution]], in which the central object has an electrical charge. For charges with a [[geometrized]] length which are less than the geometrized length of the mass of the object, this solution produces black holes with two [[event horizon]]s. |
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* The [[Kerr metric|Kerr solution]] for rotating massive objects. This solution also produces black holes with multiple event horizons. |
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* The [[Kerr–Newman metric|Kerr-Newman solution]] for charged, rotating massive objects. This solution also produces black holes with multiple event horizons. |
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* The [[physical cosmology|cosmological]] [[Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric|Robertson-Walker solution]], which predicts the expansion of the [[universe]]. |
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===General relativity=== |
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The [[tests of general relativity]] included:<ref name=Pauli1958>{{cite book|last=Pauli|first=Wolfgang Ernst|title=Theory of Relativity|year=1958|isbn=9780486641522|publisher=Courier Dover Publications|chapter=Part IV. General Theory of Relativity}}</ref> |
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{{see also|Introduction to general relativity}} |
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* General relativity accounts for the anomalous [[perihelion precession of Mercury]].{{fn|2}} |
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{{General relativity sidebar}} |
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* The prediction that time runs slower at lower potentials has been confirmed by the [[Pound–Rebka experiment]], the [[Hafele–Keating experiment]], and the [[GPS#Relativity|GPS]]. |
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Eventually, astronomers noticed an eccentricity in the orbit of the planet [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]] which could not be explained by Newton's theory: the [[perihelion]] of the orbit was increasing by about 42.98 [[arcseconds]] per century. The most obvious explanation for this discrepancy was an as-yet-undiscovered celestial body, such as a planet orbiting the Sun even closer than Mercury, but all efforts to find such a body turned out to be fruitless. In 1915, [[Albert Einstein]] developed a theory of [[general relativity]] which was able to accurately model Mercury's orbit.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nobil |first=Anna M. |date=March 1986 |title=The real value of Mercury's perihelion advance |journal=Nature |volume=320 |issue=6057 |pages=39–41 |bibcode=1986Natur.320...39N |doi=10.1038/320039a0 |s2cid=4325839 | issn=0028-0836}}</ref> |
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* The prediction of the deflection of light was first confirmed by [[Arthur Stanley Eddington]] in 1919.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Dyson|first1=F.W.|authorlink1=Frank Watson Dyson|last2= Eddington|first2=A.S.|authorlink2=Arthur Eddington|last3=Davidson|first3=C.R. |date=1920 |title=A Determination of the Deflection of Light by the Sun's Gravitational Field, from Observations Made at the Total Eclipse of May 29, 1919|journal= [[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Physical, Mathematical and Engineering Sciences|Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. A]]|volume=220|pages= 291–333|url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1920RSPTA.220..291D|doi=10.1098/rsta.1920.0009|unused_data=|first F.W.}}. Quote, p. 332: "Thus the results of the expeditions to Sobral and Principe can leave little doubt that a deflection of light takes place in the neighbourhood of the sun and that it is of the amount demanded by Einstein's generalised theory of relativity, as attributable to the sun's gravitational field."</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Steven|last=Weinberg|authorlink=Steven Weinberg|title=Gravitation and cosmology|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=1972}}. Quote, p. 192: "About a dozen stars in all were studied, and yielded values 1.98 ± 0.11" and 1.61 ± 0.31", in substantial agreement with Einstein's prediction θ<sub>ʘ</sub> = 1.75"."</ref> The Newtonian corpuscular theory also predicted a lesser deflection of light, but Eddington found that the results of the expedition confirmed the predictions of general relativity over those of the Newtonian theory. However this interpretation of the results was later disputed.<ref>{{cite journal| last1=Earman |first1=John |last2=Glymour |first2=Clark |title=Relativity and Eclipses: The British eclipse |
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expeditions of 1919 and their predecessors |year=1980 |journal=Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences |volume=11 |page=49–85}}</ref> More recent tests using radio interferometric measurements of [[quasar]]s passing behind the [[Sun]] have more accurately and consistently confirmed the deflection of light to the degree predicted by general relativity.<ref>{{cite book|first=Steven|last=Weinberg|authorlink=Steven Weinberg|title=Gravitation and cosmology|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=1972|page=194}}.</ref> See also [[gravitational lens]]. |
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* The [[time delay of light]] passing close to a massive object was first identified by [[Irwin I. Shapiro]] in 1964 in interplanetary spacecraft signals. |
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* [[Gravitational radiation]] has been indirectly confirmed through studies of binary [[pulsar]]s. |
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* [[Alexander Friedmann]] in 1922 found that Einstein equations have non-stationary solutions (even in the presence of the [[cosmological constant]]). In 1927 [[Georges Lemaître]] showed that static solutions of the Einstein equations, which are possible in the presence of the cosmological constant, are unstable, and therefore the static universe envisioned by Einstein could not exist. Later, in 1931, Einstein himself agreed with the results of Friedmann and Lemaître. Thus general relativity predicted that the Universe had to be non-static—it had to either expand or contract. The expansion of the universe discovered by [[Edwin Hubble]] in 1929 confirmed this prediction.<ref name=Pauli1>See W.Pauli, 1958, pp.219–220</ref> |
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In general relativity, the effects of gravitation are ascribed to spacetime [[curvature]] instead of a force. Einstein began to toy with this idea in the form of the [[equivalence principle]], a discovery which he later described as "the happiest thought of my life."<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Webb |first1=Joh |last2=Dougan |first2=Darren |date=23 November 2015 |title=Without Einstein it would have taken decades longer to understand gravity |url=https://phys.org/news/2015-11-einstein-decades-longer-gravity.html#:~:text=In%201907%2C%20Einstein%20had%20the,not%20feel%20his%20own%20weight. |access-date=21 May 2022 |archive-date=21 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521182328/https://phys.org/news/2015-11-einstein-decades-longer-gravity.html#:~:text=In%201907%2C%20Einstein%20had%20the,not%20feel%20his%20own%20weight. |url-status=live }}</ref> In this theory, free fall is considered to be equivalent to inertial motion, meaning that free-falling inertial objects are accelerated relative to non-inertial observers on the ground.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.black-holes.org/relativity6.html |title=Gravity and Warped Spacetime |publisher=black-holes.org |access-date=16 October 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110621005940/http://www.black-holes.org/relativity6.html |archive-date=21 June 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Lecture 20: Black Holes – The Einstein Equivalence Principle |author=Dmitri Pogosyan |url=https://www.ualberta.ca/~pogosyan/teaching/ASTRO_122/lect20/lecture20.html |publisher=University of Alberta |access-date=14 October 2011 |archive-date=8 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130908024651/http://www.ualberta.ca/~pogosyan/teaching/ASTRO_122/lect20/lecture20.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In contrast to [[Classical mechanics|Newtonian physics]], Einstein believed that it was possible for this acceleration to occur without any force being applied to the object. |
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===Gravity and quantum mechanics=== |
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Einstein proposed that [[spacetime]] is curved by matter, and that free-falling objects are moving along locally straight paths in curved spacetime. These straight paths are called [[geodesic (general relativity)|geodesics]]. As in Newton's first law of motion, Einstein believed that a force applied to an object would cause it to deviate from a geodesic. For instance, people standing on the surface of the Earth are prevented from following a geodesic path because the mechanical resistance of the Earth exerts an upward force on them. This explains why moving along the geodesics in spacetime is considered inertial. |
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{{main|Graviton|Quantum gravity}} |
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Several decades after the discovery of general relativity it was realized that general relativity is incompatible with [[quantum mechanics]].<ref>{{cite book | author=Randall, Lisa | title=Warped Passages: Unraveling the Universe's Hidden Dimensions | publisher=Ecco | year=2005 | isbn=0-06-053108-8}}</ref> It is possible to describe gravity in the framework of [[quantum field theory]] like the other [[fundamental forces]], such that the attractive force of gravity arises due to exchange of [[virtual particle|virtual]] [[graviton]]s, in the same way as the electromagnetic force arises from exchange of virtual [[photon]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last= Feynman |first= R. P. |coauthors= Morinigo, F. B., Wagner, W. G., & Hatfield, B. |title= Feynman lectures on gravitation |publisher= Addison-Wesley |year= 1995 |isbn=0201627345 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | author=Zee, A. |title=Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell | publisher = Princeton University Press | year=2003 | isbn=0-691-01019-6}}</ref> This reproduces general relativity in the [[classical limit]]. However, this approach fails at short distances of the order of the [[Planck length]],<ref>{{cite book | author=Randall, Lisa | title=Warped Passages: Unraveling the Universe's Hidden Dimensions | publisher=Ecco | year=2005 | isbn=0-06-053108-8}}</ref> where a more complete theory of [[quantum gravity]] (or a new approach to quantum mechanics) is required. Many believe the complete theory to be [[string theory]],<ref>{{cite book | author=Greene, Brian | title=The elegant universe: superstrings, hidden dimensions, and the quest for the ultimate theory | publisher=Vintage Books |location = New York| year=2000 | isbn=0375708111}}</ref> or more currently [[M-theory]], and, on the other hand, it may be a [[background independent]] theory such as [[loop quantum gravity]] or [[causal dynamical triangulation]]. |
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Einstein's description of gravity was quickly accepted by the majority of physicists, as it was able to explain a wide variety of previously baffling experimental results.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brush |first=S. G. |date=1 January 1999 |title=Why was Relativity Accepted? |url=https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1999PhP.....1..184B |journal=Physics in Perspective |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=184–214 |doi=10.1007/s000160050015 |bibcode=1999PhP.....1..184B |s2cid=51825180 |issn=1422-6944 |access-date=22 May 2022 |archive-date=8 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408021700/https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1999PhP.....1..184B |url-status=live }}</ref> In the coming years, a wide range of experiments provided additional support for the idea of general relativity.<ref name="Will">{{cite book |
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== Specifics == |
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===Earth's gravity=== |
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| first = Clifford M. |
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{{main|Earth's gravity}} |
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| title = Theory and Experiment in Gravitational Physics |
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Every planetary body (including the Earth) is surrounded by its own gravitational field, which exerts an attractive force on all objects. Assuming a spherically symmetrical planet (a reasonable approximation), the strength of this field at any given point is proportional to the planetary body's mass and inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the center of the body. |
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| publisher = Cambridge Univ. Press |
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| date = 2018 |
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| jfm =}}</ref>{{rp|p.1-9}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lindley |first=David |date=12 July 2005 |title=The Weight of Light |url=https://physics.aps.org/story/v16/st1 |journal=Physics |language=en |volume=16 |access-date=22 May 2022 |archive-date=25 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525201415/https://physics.aps.org/story/v16/st1 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Hafele-Keating Experiment |url=http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Relativ/airtim.html |access-date=22 May 2022 |website=hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu |archive-date=18 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170418005731/http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Relativ/airtim.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=How the 1919 Solar Eclipse Made Einstein the World's Most Famous Scientist |url=https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/how-the-1919-solar-eclipse-made-einstein-the-worlds-most-famous-scientist |access-date=22 May 2022 |website=Discover Magazine |language=en |archive-date=22 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220522141013/https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/how-the-1919-solar-eclipse-made-einstein-the-worlds-most-famous-scientist |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=At Long Last, Gravity Probe B Satellite Proves Einstein Right |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/long-last-gravity-probe-b-satellite-proves-einstein-right |access-date=22 May 2022 |website=www.science.org |language=en |archive-date=22 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220522141013/https://www.science.org/content/article/long-last-gravity-probe-b-satellite-proves-einstein-right |url-status=live }}</ref> Today, Einstein's theory of relativity is used for all gravitational calculations where absolute precision is desired, although Newton's inverse-square law is accurate enough for virtually all ordinary calculations.<ref name="Will" />{{rp|p.79}}<ref name="Hassani">{{cite book |
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| title = From Atoms to Galaxies: A conceptual physics approach to scientific awareness |
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== Modern research == |
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The strength of the gravitational field is numerically equal to the acceleration of objects under its influence, and its value at the Earth's surface, denoted ''g'', is approximately expressed below as the [[Standard gravity|standard average]]. |
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In [[modern physics]], general relativity remains the framework for the understanding of gravity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stephani |first=Hans |title=Exact Solutions to Einstein's Field Equations |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-521-46136-8 |pages=1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |language=en}}</ref> Physicists continue to work to find [[Solutions of the Einstein field equations|solutions]] to the [[Einstein field equations]] that form the basis of general relativity and continue to test the theory, finding excellent agreement in all cases.<ref name="ScienceNews2019">{{cite web |
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| title = Einstein's general relativity theory is questioned but still stands for now |
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| work = Science News |
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| publisher = Science Daily |
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| date = 25 July 2019 |
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| title = Einstein's greatest theory just passed its most rigorous test yet |
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| website = Scientific American |
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| publisher = Springer Nature America, Inc. |
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| date = 15 September 2022 |
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=== Einstein field equations === |
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''g'' = 9.81 m/s<sup>2</sup> = 32.2 ft/s<sup>2</sup> |
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The Einstein field equations are a [[System of equations|system]] of 10 [[partial differential equation]]s which describe how matter affects the curvature of spacetime. The system is often expressed in the form |
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<math display="block">G_{\mu \nu} + \Lambda g_{\mu \nu} = \kappa T_{\mu \nu},</math> |
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where {{mvar|G{{sub|μν}}}} is the [[Einstein tensor]], {{mvar|g{{sub|μν}}}} is the [[metric tensor (general relativity)|metric tensor]], {{mvar|T{{sub|μν}}}} is the [[stress–energy tensor]], {{math|Λ}} is the [[cosmological constant]], <math>G</math> is the Newtonian constant of gravitation and <math>c</math> is the [[speed of light]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Einstein Field Equations (General Relativity) |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/intranet/pendulum/generalrelativity/ |access-date=24 May 2022 |website=University of Warwick |language=en |archive-date=25 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525140036/https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/physics/intranet/pendulum/generalrelativity/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The constant <math>\kappa = \frac{8\pi G}{c^4}</math> is referred to as the Einstein gravitational constant.<ref>{{Cite web |title=How to understand Einstein's equation for general relativity |url=https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/einstein-general-theory-relativity-equation/ |access-date=24 May 2022 |website=Big Think |date=15 September 2021 |language=en-US |archive-date=26 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526023430/https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/einstein-general-theory-relativity-equation/ |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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[[File:Schwarzchild-metric.jpg|thumb|An illustration of the [[Schwarzschild solution|Schwarzschild metric]], which describes spacetime around a spherical, uncharged, and nonrotating object with mass]] |
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This means that, ignoring air resistance, an object falling freely near the Earth's surface increases its velocity with 9.81 m/s (32.2 ft/s or 22 mph) for each second of its descent. Thus, an object starting from rest will attain a velocity of 9.81 m/s (32.2 ft/s) after one second, 19.6 m/s (64.4 ft/s) after two seconds, and so on, adding 9.81 m/s (32.2 ft/s) to each resulting velocity. Also, again ignoring air resistance, any and all objects, when dropped from the same height, will hit the ground at the same time. |
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A major area of research is the discovery of [[Exact solutions in general relativity|exact solutions]] to the Einstein field equations. Solving these equations amounts to calculating a precise value for the metric tensor (which defines the curvature and geometry of spacetime) under certain physical conditions. There is no formal definition for what constitutes such solutions, but most scientists agree that they should be expressable using [[elementary functions]] or [[linear differential equations]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ishak |first=Mustafa |title=Exact Solutions to Einstein's Equations in Astrophysics |url=https://personal.utdallas.edu/~mishak/ExactSolutionsInAstrophysics_Ishak_Final.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://personal.utdallas.edu/~mishak/ExactSolutionsInAstrophysics_Ishak_Final.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live |access-date=25 May 2022 |website=University of Texas at Dallas}}</ref> Some of the most notable solutions of the equations include: |
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* The [[Schwarzschild solution]], which describes spacetime surrounding a [[Circular symmetry|spherically symmetric]] non-[[rotation|rotating]] uncharged massive object. For compact enough objects, this solution generated a [[black hole]] with a central [[gravitational singularity|singularity]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Schwarzchild Metric and Applications |url=http://physics.gmu.edu/~joe/PHYS428/Topic10.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://physics.gmu.edu/~joe/PHYS428/Topic10.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live |access-date=26 May 2022 |page=36}}</ref> At points far away from the central mass, the accelerations predicted by the Schwarzschild solution are practically identical to those predicted by Newton's theory of gravity.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ehlers |first=Jurgen |title=Examples of Newtonian limits of relativistic spacetimes |url=https://pure.mpg.de/rest/items/item_153004_1/component/file_153003/content |journal=Classical Quantum Gravity |year=1997 |volume=14 |issue=1A |pages=122–123 |doi=10.1088/0264-9381/14/1A/010 |bibcode=1997CQGra..14A.119E |hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-0013-5AC5-F |s2cid=250804865 |hdl-access=free |access-date=27 May 2022 |archive-date=6 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206081653/https://pure.mpg.de/rest/items/item_153004_1/component/file_153003/content |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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* The [[Reissner–Nordström metric|Reissner–Nordström solution]], which analyzes a non-rotating spherically symmetric object with charge and was independently discovered by several different researchers between 1916 and 1921.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Surprise: the Big Bang isn't the beginning of the universe anymore |url=https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/big-bang-beginning-universe/ |access-date=26 May 2022 |website=Big Think |date=13 October 2021 |language=en-US |archive-date=26 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526110921/https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/big-bang-beginning-universe/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In some cases, this solution can predict the existence of black holes with double [[event horizon]]s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Norebo |first=Jonatan |date=16 March 2016 |title=The Reissner-Nordström metric |url=https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:912393/FULLTEXT01.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:912393/FULLTEXT01.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live |language=en}}</ref> |
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* The [[Kerr metric|Kerr solution]], which generalizes the Schwarzchild solution to rotating massive objects. Because of the difficulty of factoring in the effects of rotation into the Einstein field equations, this solution was not discovered until 1963.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Teukolsky |first=Saul |date=1 June 2015 |title=The Kerr metric |url=http://www.shao.ac.cn/grefa/journalClub/201811/W020181112777812239088.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.shao.ac.cn/grefa/journalClub/201811/W020181112777812239088.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live |journal=Classical and Quantum Gravity |volume=32 |issue=12 |page=124006 |doi=10.1088/0264-9381/32/12/124006 |arxiv=1410.2130 |bibcode=2015CQGra..32l4006T |s2cid=119219499 |language=en}}</ref> |
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* The [[Kerr–Newman metric|Kerr–Newman solution]] for charged, rotating massive objects. This solution was derived in 1964, using the same technique of complex coordinate transformation that was used for the Kerr solution.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Newman |first1=E. T. |last2=Couch |first2=E. |last3=Chinnapared |first3=K. |last4=Exton |first4=A. |last5=Prakash |first5=A. |last6=Torrence |first6=R. |date=June 1965 |title=Metric of a Rotating, Charged Mass |journal=Journal of Mathematical Physics |volume=6 |issue=6 |pages=918–919 |doi=10.1063/1.1704351 |bibcode=1965JMP.....6..918N |s2cid=122962090 |issn=0022-2488}}</ref> |
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* The [[physical cosmology|cosmological]] [[Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric|Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker solution]], discovered in 1922 by [[Alexander Friedmann]] and then confirmed in 1927 by [[Georges Lemaître]]. This solution was revolutionary for predicting the [[expansion of the Universe]], which was confirmed seven years later after a series of measurements by [[Edwin Hubble]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pettini |first=M. |title=RELATIVISTIC COSMOLOGY |url=https://people.ast.cam.ac.uk/~pettini/Intro%20Cosmology/Lecture03.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://people.ast.cam.ac.uk/~pettini/Intro%20Cosmology/Lecture03.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live |access-date=27 May 2022 |language=en}}</ref> It even showed that general relativity was incompatible with a [[static universe]], and Einstein later conceded that he had been wrong to design his field equations to account for a Universe that was not expanding.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=O’Raifeartaigh |first1=Cormac |last2=O’Keeffe |first2=Michael |title=Einstein's 1917 Static Model of the Universe: A Centennial Review |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1140/epjh/e2017-80002-5 |journal=The European Physical Journal H |year=2017 |volume=42 |issue=3 |language=en |page=41 |doi=10.1140/epjh/e2017-80002-5 |arxiv=1701.07261 |bibcode=2017EPJH...42..431O |s2cid=119461771 |access-date=29 May 2022 |archive-date=29 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220529140023/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1140/epjh/e2017-80002-5 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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Today, there remain many important situations in which the Einstein field equations have not been solved. Chief among these is the [[two-body problem]], which concerns the geometry of spacetime around two mutually interacting massive objects, such as the Sun and the Earth, or the two stars in a [[binary star system]]. The situation gets even more complicated when considering the interactions of three or more massive bodies (the "''n''-body problem"), and some scientists suspect that the Einstein field equations will never be solved in this context.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Siegel |first=Ethan |title=This Is Why Scientists Will Never Exactly Solve General Relativity |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/12/04/this-is-why-scientists-will-never-exactly-solve-general-relativity/ |access-date=27 May 2022 |website=Forbes |language=en |archive-date=27 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527212804/https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/12/04/this-is-why-scientists-will-never-exactly-solve-general-relativity/ |url-status=live }}</ref> However, it is still possible to construct an approximate solution to the field equations in the ''n''-body problem by using the technique of [[post-Newtonian expansion]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Spyrou |first=N. |date=1 May 1975 |title=The ''N''-body problem in general relativity. |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |volume=197 |pages=725–743 |doi=10.1086/153562 |bibcode=1975ApJ...197..725S |issn=0004-637X|doi-access=free }}</ref> In general, the extreme nonlinearity of the Einstein field equations makes it difficult to solve them in all but the most specific cases.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sleator |first=Daniel |date=6 June 1996 |title=Hermeneutics of Classical General Relativity |url=https://physics.nyu.edu/sokal/transgress_v2/node2.html |access-date=23 May 2022}}</ref> |
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According to [[Newton's laws of motion#Newton's third law: law of reciprocal actions|Newton's 3rd Law]], the Earth itself experiences an equal and opposite force to that acting on the falling object, meaning that the Earth also accelerates towards the object (until the object hits the earth, then the [[Law of Conservation of Energy]] states that it will move back with the same acceleration with which it initially moved forward, canceling out the two forces of gravity.). However, because the mass of the Earth is huge, the acceleration of the Earth by this same force is negligible, when measured relative to the system's [[center of mass]]. |
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===Gravity and quantum mechanics=== |
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=== Equations for a falling body near the surface of the Earth === |
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{{Main|Graviton|Quantum gravity}} |
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[[Image:Falling ball.jpg|thumb|right|100px|Ball falling freely under gravity. See text for description.]] |
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{{main|Equations for a falling body}} |
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Despite its success in predicting the effects of gravity at large scales, general relativity is ultimately incompatible with [[quantum mechanics]]. This is because general relativity describes gravity as a smooth, continuous distortion of spacetime, while quantum mechanics holds that all forces arise from the exchange of discrete particles known as [[quantum|quanta]]. This contradiction is especially vexing to physicists because the other three fundamental forces (strong force, weak force and electromagnetism) were reconciled with a quantum framework decades ago.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gravity Probe B – Special & General Relativity Questions and Answers |url=https://einstein.stanford.edu/content/relativity/a11758.html#:~:text=Quantum%20mechanics%20is%20incompatible%20with,exchange%20of%20well-defined%20quanta. |access-date=1 August 2022 |website=einstein.stanford.edu |archive-date=6 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606161408/https://einstein.stanford.edu/content/relativity/a11758.html#:~:text=Quantum%20mechanics%20is%20incompatible%20with,exchange%20of%20well-defined%20quanta. |url-status=live }}</ref> As a result, modern researchers have begun to search for a theory that could unite both gravity and quantum mechanics under a more general framework.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Huggett |first1=Nick |title=Beyond Spacetime: The Foundations of Quantum Gravity |last2=Matsubara |first2=Keizo |last3=Wüthrich |first3=Christian |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2020 |isbn=9781108655705 |pages=6 |language=en}}</ref> |
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Under an assumption of constant gravity, [[Newton's law of universal gravitation]] simplifies to ''F'' = ''mg'', where ''m'' is the [[mass]] of the body and ''g'' is a constant vector with an average magnitude of 9.81 m/s². The acceleration due to gravity is equal to this ''g''. An initially-stationary object which is allowed to fall freely under gravity drops a distance which is proportional to the square of the elapsed time. The image on the right, spanning half a second, was captured with a stroboscopic flash at 20 flashes per second. During the first 1/20th of a second the ball drops one unit of distance (here, a unit is about 12 mm); by 2/20ths it has dropped at total of 4 units; by 3/20ths, 9 units and so on. |
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One path is to describe gravity in the framework of [[quantum field theory]], which has been successful to accurately describe the other [[fundamental interaction]]s. The electromagnetic force arises from an exchange of virtual [[photon]]s, where the QFT description of gravity is that there is an exchange of [[virtual particle|virtual]] [[graviton]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last= Feynman |first= R.P. |author2=Morinigo, F.B. |author3=Wagner, W.G. |author4=Hatfield, B. |title= Feynman lectures on gravitation |url= https://archive.org/details/feynmanlectureso0000feyn_g4q1 |url-access= registration |publisher= Addison-Wesley |date= 1995 |isbn=978-0-201-62734-3 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | author=Zee, A. |title=Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell | publisher = Princeton University Press | date=2003 | isbn=978-0-691-01019-9}}</ref> This description reproduces general relativity in the [[classical limit]]. However, this approach fails at short distances of the order of the [[Planck length]],<ref name="Randall, Lisa 2005">{{cite book | author=Randall, Lisa | title=Warped Passages: Unraveling the Universe's Hidden Dimensions | publisher=Ecco | date=2005 | isbn=978-0-06-053108-9 | url=https://archive.org/details/warpedpassagesun00rand_1 }}</ref> where a more complete theory of [[quantum gravity]] (or a new approach to quantum mechanics) is required. |
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Under the same constant gravity assumptions, the [[potential energy]], ''E<sub>p</sub>'', of a body at height ''h'' is given by ''E<sub>p</sub>'' = ''mgh'' (or ''E<sub>p</sub>'' = ''Wh'', with ''W'' meaning weight). This expression is valid only over small distances ''h'' from the surface of the Earth. Similarly, the expression <math>h = \tfrac{v^2}{2g}</math> for the maximum height reached by a vertically projected body with velocity ''v'' is useful for small heights and small initial velocities only. |
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=== Tests of general relativity === |
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===Gravity and astronomy=== |
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{{main| |
{{main | Tests of general relativity}} |
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[[File:1919 eclipse positive.jpg|thumb|The 1919 [[total solar eclipse]] provided one of the first opportunities to test the predictions of general relativity.]] |
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The discovery and application of Newton's law of gravity accounts for the detailed information we have about the planets in our solar system, the mass of the Sun, the distance to stars, [[quasar]]s and even the theory of [[dark matter]]. Although we have not traveled to all the planets nor to the Sun, we know their masses. These masses are obtained by applying the laws of gravity to the measured characteristics of the orbit. In space an object maintains its [[orbit]] because of the force of gravity acting upon it. Planets orbit stars, stars orbit [[Galactic Center]]s, [[galaxy|galaxies]] orbit a center of mass in clusters, and clusters orbit in [[supercluster]]s. The force of gravity is proportional to the mass of an object and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the objects. |
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Testing the predictions of general relativity has historically been difficult, because they are almost identical to the predictions of Newtonian gravity for small energies and masses.<ref name="NASA-2022">{{Cite web |title=Testing General Relativity |url=https://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/blueshift/index.php/2015/11/27/testing-general-relativity/ |access-date=29 May 2022 |website=NASA Blueshift |language=en-US |archive-date=16 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516115115/https://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/blueshift/index.php/2015/11/27/testing-general-relativity/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Still, since its development, an ongoing series of experimental results have provided support for the theory:<ref name="NASA-2022"/> In 1919, the British astrophysicist [[Arthur Eddington]] was able to confirm the predicted [[gravitational lens]]ing of light during [[Solar eclipse of May 29, 1919|that year's solar eclipse]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dyson |first1=F.W. |author-link1=Frank Watson Dyson |last2=Eddington |first2=A.S. |author-link2=Arthur Eddington |last3=Davidson |first3=C.R. |date=1920 |title=A Determination of the Deflection of Light by the Sun's Gravitational Field, from Observations Made at the Total Eclipse of May 29, 1919 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1432106 |url-status=live |journal=[[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences|Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. A]] |volume=220 |issue=571–581 |pages=291–333 |bibcode=1920RSPTA.220..291D |doi=10.1098/rsta.1920.0009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200515065314/https://zenodo.org/record/1432106 |archive-date=15 May 2020 |access-date=1 July 2019 |doi-access=free}}. Quote, p. 332: "Thus the results of the expeditions to Sobral and Principe can leave little doubt that a deflection of light takes place in the neighbourhood of the sun and that it is of the amount demanded by Einstein's generalised theory of relativity, as attributable to the sun's gravitational field."</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Weinberg |first=Steven |url=https://archive.org/details/gravitationcosmo00stev_0 |title=Gravitation and cosmology |date=1972 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9780471925675 |author-link=Steven Weinberg |url-access=registration}}. Quote, p. 192: "About a dozen stars in all were studied, and yielded values 1.98 ± 0.11" and 1.61 ± 0.31", in substantial agreement with Einstein's prediction θ<sub>☉</sub> = 1.75"."</ref> Eddington measured starlight deflections twice those predicted by Newtonian corpuscular theory, in accordance with the predictions of general relativity. Although Eddington's analysis was later disputed, this experiment made Einstein famous almost overnight and caused general relativity to become widely accepted in the scientific community.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gilmore |first1=Gerard |last2=Tausch-Pebody |first2=Gudrun |date=20 March 2022 |title=The 1919 eclipse results that verified general relativity and their later detractors: a story re-told |journal=Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science |volume=76 |issue=1 |pages=155–180 |doi=10.1098/rsnr.2020.0040|s2cid=225075861 |doi-access=free |arxiv=2010.13744 }}</ref> |
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===Gravitational radiation=== |
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{{main|Gravitational wave}} |
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In 1959, American physicists [[Robert Pound]] and [[Glen Rebka]] performed [[Pound–Rebka experiment|an experiment]] in which they used [[gamma ray]]s to confirm the prediction of [[gravitational time dilation]]. By sending the rays down a 74-foot tower and measuring their frequency at the bottom, the scientists confirmed that light is [[redshift]]ed as it moves towards a source of gravity. The observed redshift also supported the idea that time runs more slowly in the presence of a gravitational field.<ref>{{Cite web |title=General Astronomy Addendum 10: Graviational Redshift and time dilation |url=https://homepage.physics.uiowa.edu/~rlm/mathcad/addendum%2010%20gravitational%20redshift%20and%20time%20dilation.htm |access-date=29 May 2022 |website=homepage.physics.uiowa.edu |archive-date=14 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220514063358/https://homepage.physics.uiowa.edu/~rlm/mathcad/addendum%2010%20gravitational%20redshift%20and%20time%20dilation.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[time delay of light]] passing close to a massive object was first identified by [[Irwin I. Shapiro]] in 1964 in interplanetary spacecraft signals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Asada |first=Hideki |date=20 March 2008 |title=Gravitational time delay of light for various models of modified gravity |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269308001810 |journal=Physics Letters B |volume=661 |issue=2–3 |pages=78–81 |doi=10.1016/j.physletb.2008.02.006 |arxiv=0710.0477 |bibcode=2008PhLB..661...78A |s2cid=118365884 |language=en |access-date=29 May 2022 |archive-date=29 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220529140019/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269308001810 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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In general relativity, gravitational radiation is generated in situations where the curvature of [[spacetime]] is oscillating, such as is the case with co-orbiting objects. The gravitational radiation emitted by the [[Solar System]] is far too small to measure. However, gravitational radiation has been indirectly observed as an energy loss over time in binary pulsar systems such as [[PSR B1913+16]]. It is believed that [[neutron star]] mergers and [[black hole]] formation may create detectable amounts of gravitational radiation. Gravitational radiation observatories such as [[LIGO]] have been created to study the problem. No confirmed detections have been made of this hypothetical radiation, but as the science behind LIGO is refined and as the instruments themselves are endowed with greater sensitivity over the next decade, this may change. |
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In 1971, scientists discovered the first-ever black hole in the galaxy [[Cygnus A|Cygnus]]. The black hole was detected because it was emitting bursts of [[x-rays]] as it consumed a smaller star, and it came to be known as [[Cygnus X-1]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Fate of the First Black Hole |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/fate-first-black-hole |access-date=30 May 2022 |website=www.science.org |language=en |archive-date=31 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531125138/https://www.science.org/content/article/fate-first-black-hole |url-status=live }}</ref> This discovery confirmed yet another prediction of general relativity, because Einstein's equations implied that light could not escape from a sufficiently large and compact object.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Black Holes Science Mission Directorate |url=https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20170124200640/https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/black-holes |access-date=30 May 2022 |website=webarchive.library.unt.edu |archive-date=8 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408021657/https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20170124200640/https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/black-holes |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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==Anomalies and discrepancies== |
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General relativity states that gravity acts on light and matter equally, meaning that a sufficiently massive object could warp light around it and create a [[gravitational lensing|gravitational lens]]. This phenomenon was first confirmed by observation in 1979 using the 2.1 meter telescope at [[Kitt Peak National Observatory]] in Arizona, which saw two mirror images of the same quasar whose light had been bent around the galaxy [[YGKOW G1]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Physics and Astrophysics: Glimpses of the Progress |author1=Subal Kar |edition=illustrated |publisher=CRC Press |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-000-55926-2 |page=106 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IWFkEAAAQBAJ}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=IWFkEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT106 Extract of page 106]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Hubble, Hubble, Seeing Double! |url=https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-hubble-seeing-double/#.YpZyvYOZrRl |access-date=31 May 2022 |website=NASA |date=24 January 2014 |archive-date=25 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525041837/https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-hubble-seeing-double/#.YpZyvYOZrRl |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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There are some observations that are not adequately accounted for, which may point to the need for better theories of gravity or perhaps be explained in other ways. |
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[[Frame dragging]], the idea that a rotating massive object should twist spacetime around it, was confirmed by [[Gravity Probe B]] results in 2011.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/may/HQ_11-134_Gravity_Probe_B.html |title=NASA's Gravity Probe B Confirms Two Einstein Space-Time Theories |publisher=Nasa.gov |access-date=23 July 2013 |archive-date=22 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522024606/http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/may/HQ_11-134_Gravity_Probe_B.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title="Frame-Dragging" in Local Spacetime |url=https://einstein.stanford.edu/content/education/lithos/litho-fd.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://einstein.stanford.edu/content/education/lithos/litho-fd.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live |website=Stanford University}}</ref> In 2015, the [[LIGO]] observatory detected faint [[gravitational waves]], the existence of which had been predicted by general relativity. Scientists believe that the waves emanated from a [[black hole merger]] that occurred 1.5 billion [[light-years]] away.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Gravitational Waves Detected 100 Years After Einstein's Prediction |url=https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/news/ligo20160211 |access-date=30 May 2022 |newspaper=Ligo Lab | Caltech |archive-date=27 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190527101043/https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/news/ligo20160211 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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* '''Extra fast stars''': Stars in galaxies follow a [[Galaxy rotation curve|distribution of velocities]] where stars on the outskirts are moving faster than they should according to the observed distributions of normal matter. Galaxies within [[Galaxy groups and clusters|galaxy clusters]] show a similar pattern. [[Dark matter]], which would interact gravitationally but not electromagnetically, would account for the discrepancy. Various [[Modified Newtonian dynamics|modifications to Newtonian dynamics]] have also been proposed. |
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==Specifics== |
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* '''Pioneer anomaly''': The two [[Pioneer anomaly|Pioneer spacecraft]] seem to be slowing down in a way which has yet to be explained.<ref>[http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10804075 Wanted: Einstein Jr], ''The Economist'', 6th March 2008.</ref> |
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===Earth's gravity=== |
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* '''Flyby anomaly''': Various spacecraft have experienced greater accelerations during [[Flyby anomaly|slingshot maneuvers]] than expected. |
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[[File:Falling ball.jpg|thumb|upright=0.45|An initially-stationary object that is allowed to fall freely under gravity drops a distance that is proportional to the square of the elapsed time. This image spans half a second and was captured at 20 flashes per second.]] |
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{{main|Gravity of Earth}} |
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Every planetary body (including the Earth) is surrounded by its own gravitational field, which can be conceptualized with Newtonian physics as exerting an attractive force on all objects. Assuming a spherically symmetrical planet, the strength of this field at any given point above the surface is proportional to the planetary body's mass and inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the center of the body. |
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[[File:Gravity action-reaction.gif|thumb|left|If an object with comparable mass to that of the Earth were to fall towards it, then the corresponding acceleration of the Earth would be observable.]] |
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The strength of the gravitational field is numerically equal to the acceleration of objects under its influence.<ref>{{cite book |title=Companion to the History of Modern Science |first1=G.N. |last1=Cantor |first2=J.R.R. |last2=Christie |first3=M.J.S. |last3=Hodge |first4=R.C. |last4=Olby |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-134-97751-2 |page=448 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gkJn6ciwYZsC&pg=PA448 |access-date=22 October 2017 |archive-date=17 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200117131121/https://books.google.com/books?id=gkJn6ciwYZsC&pg=PA448 |url-status=live }}</ref> The rate of acceleration of falling objects near the Earth's surface varies very slightly depending on latitude, surface features such as mountains and ridges, and perhaps unusually high or low sub-surface densities.<ref>{{Cite APOD|date = 15 December 2014|title = The Potsdam Gravity Potato|access-date = }}</ref> For purposes of weights and measures, a [[standard gravity]] value is defined by the [[International Bureau of Weights and Measures]], under the [[International System of Units]] (SI). |
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The force of gravity experienced by objects on Earth's surface is the vector sum of two forces:<ref name=HWM>{{cite book |
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* '''Accelerating expansion''': The [[metric expansion of space]] seems to be speeding up. [[Dark energy]] has been proposed to explain this. A recent alternative explanation is that the geometry of space is not homogeneous (due to clusters of galaxies) and that when the data are reinterpreted to take this into account, the expansion is not speeding up after all<ref>[http://space.newscientist.com/channel/astronomy/cosmology/mg19726461.600-dark-energy-may-just-be-a-cosmic-illusion.html Dark energy may just be a cosmic illusion], ''New Scientist'', issue 2646, 7th March 2008.</ref>, however this conclusion is disputed<ref>[http://space.newscientist.com/article/mg20026783.800-swisscheese-model-of-the-cosmos-is-full-of-holes.html Swiss-cheese model of the cosmos is full of holes], ''New Scientist'', issue 2678, 18th October 2008.</ref>. |
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|last1 = Hofmann-Wellenhof |first1 = B. |
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|last2 = Moritz |first2 = H. |
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|title = Physical Geodesy |
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|publisher = Springer |
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|edition = 2nd |
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|isbn = 978-3-211-33544-4 |
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|year = 2006 |
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|quote = § 2.1: "The total force acting on a body at rest on the earth's surface is the resultant of gravitational force and the centrifugal force of the earth's rotation and is called gravity. |
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}}</ref> (a) The gravitational attraction in accordance with Newton's universal law of gravitation, and (b) the centrifugal force, which results from the choice of an earthbound, rotating frame of reference. The force of gravity is weakest at the equator because of the [[centrifugal force]] caused by the Earth's rotation and because points on the equator are furthest from the center of the Earth. The force of gravity varies with latitude and increases from about 9.780 m/s<sup>2</sup> at the Equator to about 9.832 m/s<sup>2</sup> at the poles.<ref name="Boynton">{{cite conference |last=Boynton |first=Richard |date=2001 |title=''Precise Measurement of Mass'' |book-title=Sawe Paper No. 3147 |publisher=S.A.W.E., Inc. |location=Arlington, Texas |url=http://www.space-electronics.com/Literature/Precise_Measurement_of_Mass.PDF |access-date=22 December 2023 |archive-date=27 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070227132140/http://www.space-electronics.com/Literature/Precise_Measurement_of_Mass.PDF |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=310 |title=Curious About Astronomy? |website= Cornell University |accessdate=22 December 2023 |archive-date=28 July 2013 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728125707/http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=310}} </ref> |
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===Gravitational radiation=== |
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* '''Anomalous increase of the AU''': Recent measurements indicate that planetary orbits are [[Astronomical unit#Anomalous increase of the AU|expanding faster]] than if this was solely through the sun losing mass by radiating energy. |
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[[File:LIGO Hanford aerial 05.jpg|alt=LIGO Hanford Observatory|thumb|The [[LIGO]] Hanford Observatory located in Washington, United States, where gravitational waves were first observed in September 2015]] |
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{{Main|Gravitational wave}} |
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General relativity predicts that energy can be transported out of a system through gravitational radiation. The first indirect evidence for gravitational radiation was through measurements of the [[Hulse–Taylor binary]] in 1973. This system consists of a pulsar and neutron star in orbit around one another. Its orbital period has decreased since its initial discovery due to a loss of energy, which is consistent for the amount of energy loss due to gravitational radiation. This research was awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in 1993.<ref name="npp1993">{{cite web |title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1993 |publisher=[[Nobel Foundation]] |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1993/press-release/ |date=13 October 1993 |quote=for the discovery of a new type of pulsar, a discovery that has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation |access-date=22 December 2023 |archive-date=10 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810182047/https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1993/press.html |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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The first direct evidence for gravitational radiation was measured on 14 September 2015 by the [[LIGO]] detectors. The gravitational waves emitted during the collision of two black holes 1.3 billion light years from Earth were measured.<ref name='Clark 2016'>{{Cite web|title = Gravitational waves: scientists announce 'we did it!'{{snd}}live|url = https://www.theguardian.com/science/across-the-universe/live/2016/feb/11/gravitational-wave-announcement-latest-physics-einstein-ligo-black-holes-live|website = the Guardian|date = 11 February 2016|access-date = 11 February 2016|first = Stuart|last = Clark|archive-date = 22 June 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180622055957/https://www.theguardian.com/science/across-the-universe/live/2016/feb/11/gravitational-wave-announcement-latest-physics-einstein-ligo-black-holes-live|url-status = live}}</ref><ref name="Discovery 2016">{{cite journal |title=Einstein's gravitational waves found at last |journal=Nature News |url=http://www.nature.com/news/einstein-s-gravitational-waves-found-at-last-1.19361 |date=11 February 2016 |last1=Castelvecchi |first1=Davide |last2=Witze |first2=Witze |doi=10.1038/nature.2016.19361 |s2cid=182916902 |access-date=11 February 2016 |archive-date=12 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160212082216/http://www.nature.com/news/einstein-s-gravitational-waves-found-at-last-1.19361 |url-status=live }}</ref> This observation confirms the theoretical predictions of Einstein and others that such waves exist. It also opens the way for practical observation and understanding of the nature of gravity and events in the Universe including the Big Bang.<ref>{{cite web|title=WHAT ARE GRAVITATIONAL WAVES AND WHY DO THEY MATTER?|date=13 January 2016 |url=http://www.popsci.com/whats-so-important-about-gravitational-waves|publisher=popsci.com|access-date=12 February 2016|archive-date=3 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160203130600/http://www.popsci.com/whats-so-important-about-gravitational-waves|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Neutron star]] and [[black hole]] formation also create detectable amounts of gravitational radiation.<ref name="PhysRev2017">{{cite journal |last1=Abbott |first1=B. P. |display-authors=etal. |collaboration=[[LIGO Scientific Collaboration]] & [[Virgo interferometer|Virgo Collaboration]] |title=GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral |journal=[[Physical Review Letters]] |date=October 2017 |volume=119 |issue=16 |pages=161101 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.161101 |pmid=29099225 |doi-access=free |arxiv=1710.05832 |url=http://www.ligo.org/detections/GW170817/paper/GW170817-PRLpublished.pdf |bibcode=2017PhRvL.119p1101A |access-date=28 September 2019 |archive-date=8 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180808012441/https://www.ligo.org/detections/GW170817/paper/GW170817-PRLpublished.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> This research was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017.<ref>{{cite web|title=Nobel prize in physics awarded for discovery of gravitational waves|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/oct/03/nobel-prize-physics-discovery-gravitational-waves-ligo|website=the Guardian|date=3 October 2017|access-date=3 October 2017|last1=Devlin|first1=Hanna|archive-date=3 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171003102211/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/oct/03/nobel-prize-physics-discovery-gravitational-waves-ligo|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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* '''Extra energetic photons''': Photons travelling through galaxy clusters should gain energy and then lose it again on the way out. The accelerating expansion of the universe should stop the photons returning all the energy, but even taking this into account photons from the [[cosmic microwave background radiation]] gain twice as much energy as expected. This may indicate that gravity falls off ''faster'' than inverse-squared at certain distance scales<ref name=newsci2699>"Where Matter Fears to Tread", New Scientist issue 2669, 14 March 2009</ref>. |
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===Speed of gravity=== |
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* '''Dark flow''': Surveys of galaxy motions have detected a mystery [[dark flow]] towards an unseen mass. Such a large mass is too large to have accumulated since the [[Big Bang]] using current models and may indicate that gravity falls off ''slower'' than inverse-squared at certain distance scales<ref name=newsci2699/>. |
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{{Main|Speed of gravity}} |
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In December 2012, a research team in China announced that it had produced measurements of the phase lag of [[Earth tide]]s during full and new moons which seem to prove that the speed of gravity is equal to the speed of light.<ref>[http://www.astrowatch.net/2012/12/chinese-scientists-find-evidence-for.html Chinese scientists find evidence for speed of gravity] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130108083729/http://www.astrowatch.net/2012/12/chinese-scientists-find-evidence-for.html |date=8 January 2013 }}, astrowatch.com, 12/28/12.</ref> This means that if the Sun suddenly disappeared, the Earth would keep orbiting the vacant point normally for 8 minutes, which is the time light takes to travel that distance. The team's findings were released in ''[[Science Bulletin]]'' in February 2013.<ref>{{cite journal|last=TANG|first=Ke Yun|author2=HUA ChangCai |author3=WEN Wu |author4=CHI ShunLiang |author5=YOU QingYu |author6=YU Dan |title=Observational evidences for the speed of the gravity based on the Earth tide|journal=Chinese Science Bulletin|date=February 2013|volume=58|issue=4–5|pages=474–477|doi=10.1007/s11434-012-5603-3|bibcode=2013ChSBu..58..474T|doi-access=free}}</ref> |
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In October 2017, the [[LIGO]] and Virgo detectors received gravitational wave signals within 2 seconds of gamma ray satellites and optical telescopes seeing signals from the same direction. This confirmed that the speed of gravitational waves was the same as the speed of light.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/press-release-gw170817|title=GW170817 Press Release|website=LIGO Lab – Caltech|access-date=24 October 2017|archive-date=17 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171017010137/https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/press-release-gw170817|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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* '''Extra massive hydrogen clouds''': The spectral lines of the [[Lyman-alpha forest]] suggest that hydrogen clouds are more clumped together at certain scales than expected and, like dark flow, may indicate that gravity falls off ''slower'' than inverse-squared at certain distance scales<ref name=newsci2699/>. |
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==Anomalies and discrepancies== |
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{{distinguish|Gravity anomaly}} |
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There are some observations that are not adequately accounted for, which may point to the need for better theories of gravity or perhaps be explained in other ways. |
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[[File:GalacticRotation2.svg|thumb|Rotation curve of a typical spiral galaxy: predicted ('''A''') and observed ('''B'''). The discrepancy between the curves is attributed to [[dark matter]].]] |
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* '''Extra-fast stars''': Stars in galaxies follow a [[Galaxy rotation curve|distribution of velocities]] where stars on the outskirts are moving faster than they should according to the observed distributions of normal matter. Galaxies within [[Galaxy groups and clusters|galaxy clusters]] show a similar pattern. [[Dark matter]], which would interact through gravitation but not electromagnetically, would account for the discrepancy. Various [[Modified Newtonian dynamics|modifications to Newtonian dynamics]] have also been proposed. |
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* '''[[Accelerated expansion]]''': The [[expansion of the universe]] seems to be speeding up.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 2011 : Adam G. Riess Facts |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2011/riess/facts/ |access-date=19 March 2024 |website=NobelPrize.org |language=en-US |archive-date=28 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200528014511/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2011/riess/facts/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Dark energy]] has been proposed to explain this.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is Dark Energy? Inside our accelerating, expanding Universe |url=https://science.nasa.gov/universe/the-universe-is-expanding-faster-these-days-and-dark-energy-is-responsible-so-what-is-dark-energy/ |access-date=19 March 2024 |website=science.nasa.gov |language=en |archive-date=19 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240319153930/https://science.nasa.gov/universe/the-universe-is-expanding-faster-these-days-and-dark-energy-is-responsible-so-what-is-dark-energy/ |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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* '''[[Flyby anomaly]]''': Various spacecraft have experienced greater acceleration than expected during [[gravity assist]] maneuvers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Anderson |first1=John D. |last2=Campbell |first2=James K. |last3=Ekelund |first3=John E. |last4=Ellis |first4=Jordan |last5=Jordan |first5=James F. |date=3 March 2008 |title=Anomalous Orbital-Energy Changes Observed during Spacecraft Flybys of Earth |url=https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.091102 |journal=Physical Review Letters |language=en |volume=100 |issue=9 |page=091102 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.091102 |pmid=18352689 |bibcode=2008PhRvL.100i1102A |issn=0031-9007}}</ref> The [[Pioneer anomaly]] has been shown to be explained by thermal recoil due to the distant sun radiation on one side of the space craft.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Turyshev |first1=Slava G. |last2=Toth |first2=Viktor T. |last3=Kinsella |first3=Gary |last4=Lee |first4=Siu-Chun |last5=Lok |first5=Shing M. |last6=Ellis |first6=Jordan |date=12 June 2012 |title=Support for the Thermal Origin of the Pioneer Anomaly |url=https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.241101 |journal=Physical Review Letters |volume=108 |issue=24 |pages=241101 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.241101|pmid=23004253 |arxiv=1204.2507 |bibcode=2012PhRvL.108x1101T }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Iorio |first=Lorenzo |date=May 2015 |title=Gravitational anomalies in the solar system? |url=https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0218271815300153 |journal=International Journal of Modern Physics D |language=en |volume=24 |issue=6 |pages=1530015–1530343 |doi=10.1142/S0218271815300153 |issn=0218-2718|arxiv=1412.7673 |bibcode=2015IJMPD..2430015I }}</ref> |
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==Alternative theories== |
==Alternative theories== |
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{{ |
{{Main|Alternatives to general relativity}} |
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===Historical alternative theories=== |
===Historical alternative theories=== |
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* [[Aristotelian theory of gravity]] |
* [[Aristotelian theory of gravity]] |
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* [[Le Sage's theory of gravitation]] (1784) also called |
* [[Le Sage's theory of gravitation]] (1784) also called LeSage gravity but originally proposed by Fatio and further elaborated by [[Georges-Louis Le Sage]], based on a fluid-based explanation where a light gas fills the entire Universe. |
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* [[Ritz's Equation|Ritz's theory of gravitation]], ''Ann. Chem. Phys.'' 13, 145, (1908) pp. 267–271, Weber–Gauss electrodynamics applied to gravitation. Classical advancement of perihelia. |
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* [[Nordström's theory of gravitation]] (1912, 1913), an early competitor of general relativity. |
* [[Nordström's theory of gravitation]] (1912, 1913), an early competitor of general relativity. |
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* [[Kaluza–Klein theory]] (1921) |
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* [[Whitehead's theory of gravitation]] (1922), another early competitor of general relativity. |
* [[Whitehead's theory of gravitation]] (1922), another early competitor of general relativity. |
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=== |
===Modern alternative theories=== |
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* [[Brans–Dicke theory]] of gravity (1961)<ref name=2014Schpj...931358B>{{cite journal|author=Brans, C.H. |date=Mar 2014 |title= Jordan–Brans–Dicke Theory|journal=Scholarpedia |volume=9 |issue=4 |page=31358 |doi= 10.4249/scholarpedia.31358|bibcode= 2014SchpJ...931358B|arxiv=gr-qc/0207039|doi-access=free }}</ref> |
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* [[Brans–Dicke theory]] of gravity (1961) |
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* [[Induced gravity]] (1967), a proposal by [[Andrei Sakharov]] according to which [[general relativity]] might arise from [[quantum field theory|quantum field theories]] of matter |
* [[Induced gravity]] (1967), a proposal by [[Andrei Sakharov]] according to which [[general relativity]] might arise from [[quantum field theory|quantum field theories]] of matter |
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*[[String theory]] (late 1960s) |
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* In the [[modified Newtonian dynamics]] (MOND) (1981), [[Mordehai Milgrom]] proposes a modification of [[Newton's Second Law]] of motion for small accelerations |
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* [[F(R) gravity|ƒ(R) gravity]] (1970) |
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* The [[self-creation cosmology]] theory of gravity (1982) by G.A. Barber in which the Brans-Dicke theory is modified to allow mass creation |
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* [[Horndeski's theory|Horndeski theory]] (1974)<ref name=1974IJTP...10..363H>{{cite journal|author=Horndeski, G.W. |date=Sep 1974 |title= Second-Order Scalar–Tensor Field Equations in a Four-Dimensional Space |journal=International Journal of Theoretical Physics |volume=88 |issue= 10 |pages=363–384 |doi= 10.1007/BF01807638|bibcode= 1974IJTP...10..363H|s2cid=122346086 }}</ref> |
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* [[Supergravity]] (1976) |
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* In the [[modified Newtonian dynamics]] (MOND) (1981), [[Mordehai Milgrom]] proposes a modification of [[Newton's second law]] of motion for small accelerations<ref name="2014SchpJ...931410M">{{cite journal|author=Milgrom, M. |date=Jun 2014 |title= The MOND paradigm of modified dynamics|journal=Scholarpedia |volume=9 |issue=6 |page=31410 |doi= 10.4249/scholarpedia.31410|bibcode= 2014SchpJ...931410M|doi-access=free}}</ref> |
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* The [[self-creation cosmology]] theory of gravity (1982) by G.A. Barber in which the Brans–Dicke theory is modified to allow mass creation |
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* [[Loop quantum gravity]] (1988) by [[Carlo Rovelli]], [[Lee Smolin]], and [[Abhay Ashtekar]] |
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* [[Nonsymmetric gravitational theory]] (NGT) (1994) by [[John Moffat (physicist)|John Moffat]] |
* [[Nonsymmetric gravitational theory]] (NGT) (1994) by [[John Moffat (physicist)|John Moffat]] |
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* |
*[[Tensor–vector–scalar gravity]] (TeVeS) (2004), a relativistic modification of MOND by [[Jacob Bekenstein]] |
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*[[Chameleon particle|Chameleon theory]] (2004) by [[Justin Khoury]] and [[Amanda Weltman]]. |
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* [[Pressuron|Pressuron theory]] (2013) by [[Olivier Minazzoli]] and [[Aurélien Hees]]. |
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*[[Conformal gravity]]<ref>{{Cite arXiv|title=Einstein gravity from conformal gravity|eprint=1105.5632|last1=Haugan|first1=Mark P|last2=Lämmerzahl|first2=C|class=hep-th|year=2011}}</ref> |
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*[[Gravity as an entropic force]], gravity arising as an emergent phenomenon from the thermodynamic concept of entropy. |
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*In the [[superfluid vacuum theory]] the gravity and curved spacetime arise as a [[collective excitation]] mode of non-relativistic background [[superfluid]]. |
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*[[Massive gravity]], a theory where gravitons and gravitational waves have a non-zero mass |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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{{ |
{{cols|colwidth=30em}} |
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* {{Annotated link |Anti-gravity}} |
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<div style="-moz-column-count:3; column-count:3;"> |
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* {{Annotated link |Artificial gravity}} |
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* [[Anti-gravity]], the idea of neutralizing or repelling gravity |
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* {{Annotated link |Equations for a falling body}} |
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* [[Artificial gravity]] |
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* {{Annotated link |Escape velocity}} |
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* [[Escape velocity]], the minimum velocity needed to fly away from a massive space object |
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* {{Annotated link |Atmospheric escape}} |
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* [[General relativity]] |
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* {{Annotated link |Gauss's law for gravity}} |
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* [[g-force]], a measure of [[acceleration]] |
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* |
* {{Annotated link |Gravitational potential}} |
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* |
* {{Annotated link |Gravitational biology}} |
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* {{Annotated link |Newton's laws of motion}} |
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* [[Gravitational binding energy]] |
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* {{Annotated link |Standard gravitational parameter}} |
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* [[Gravity Research Foundation]] |
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* {{Annotated link |Weightlessness}} |
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* [[Gauss' law for gravity]] |
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{{colend}} |
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* [[Jovian-Plutonian gravitational effect]] |
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{{clear}} |
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* [[Kepler's laws of planetary motion#Kepler's third law|Kepler's third law of planetary motion]] |
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* [[Mixmaster dynamics]] |
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* [[Newton's laws of motion]] |
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* [[n-body problem|''n''-body problem]] |
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* [[Pioneer anomaly|The Pioneer spacecraft anomaly]] |
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* [[Scalar theories of gravitation]] |
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* [[Speed of gravity]] |
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* [[Standard gravitational parameter]] |
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* [[Standard gravity]] |
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* [[Weight]] |
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* [[Weightlessness]] |
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* [[Lagrangian point]] |
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* [[Gravity assist]] |
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* [[Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment]] |
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==References== |
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</div> |
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{{Reflist|30em}} |
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== |
===Sources=== |
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<div class="references-small"> |
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* {{fnb|1}} Proposition 75, Theorem 35: p.956 - I.Bernard Cohen and Anne Whitman, translators: Isaac Newton, ''The Principia'': Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. Preceded by ''A Guide to Newton's Principia'', by I. Bernard Cohen. University of California Press 1999 ISBN 0-520-08816-6 ISBN 0-520-08817-4 |
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* {{fnb|2}} [[Max Born]] (1924), ''Einstein's Theory of Relativity'' (The 1962 Dover edition, page 348 lists a table documenting the observed and calculated values for the precession of the perihelion of Mercury, Venus, and Earth.) |
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</div> |
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==Footnotes== |
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{{reflist|2}} |
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==References== |
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{{refbegin}} |
{{refbegin}} |
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* {{Cite book |title=Out of the shadow of a giant: Hooke, Halley and the birth of British science |last1=Gribbin |last2=Gribbin |first1= John |first2=Mary |isbn=978-0-00-822059-4 |location=London |oclc=966239842 |year=2017 |publisher=William Collins |author-link=John Gribbin}} |
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*{{cite book | last = Halliday | first = David | coauthors = Robert Resnick; Kenneth S. Krane | title = Physics v. 1 | location = New York | publisher = John Wiley & Sons | year = 2001 | isbn = 0-471-32057-9 }} |
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*{{ |
* {{ citation | title = McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms | edition = 4th | location = New York | publisher = [[McGraw-Hill]] | year = 1989 | isbn = 0-07-045270-9 | ref = {{harvid|McGraw-Hill Dict|1989}} }} |
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* {{cite book |last=Hooke |first=Robert |date=1679 |title=Lectiones Cutlerianae, or A collection of lectures, physical, mechanical, geographical & astronomical : made before the Royal Society on several occasions at Gresham Colledge [i.e. College] : to which are added divers miscellaneous discourses |url=https://archive.org/details/LectionesCutler00Hook/page/n7/mode/2up}} |
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*{{cite book | last = Tipler | first = Paul | title = Physics for Scientists and Engineers: Mechanics, Oscillations and Waves, Thermodynamics | edition = 5th | publisher = W. H. Freeman | year = 2004 | isbn = 0-7167-0809-4 }} |
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{{refend}} |
{{refend}} |
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==Further reading== |
==Further reading== |
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* {{cite book |first=Isaac |last=Newton |translator=I. Bernard Cohen |title=The Principia : mathematical principles of natural philosophy |contribution=A Guide to Newton's Principia |contributor=I. Bernard Cohen |publisher=University of California Press |date=1999 |orig-date=1687 |isbn=9780520088160 |oclc=313895715}} |
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* {{cite book | author=[[Kip Thorne|Thorne, Kip S.]]; Misner, Charles W.; Wheeler, John Archibald | title=Gravitation | publisher=W.H. Freeman | year=1973 | id=ISBN 0-7167-0344-0}} |
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* {{cite book | last = Halliday | first = David | author2 = Robert Resnick | author3 = Kenneth S. Krane | title = Physics v. 1 | location = New York | publisher = John Wiley & Sons | date = 2001 | isbn = 978-0-471-32057-9 }} |
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* {{cite book | last = Serway | first = Raymond A. | author2 = Jewett, John W. | title = Physics for Scientists and Engineers | edition = 6th | publisher = Brooks/Cole | date = 2004 | isbn = 978-0-534-40842-8 | url = https://archive.org/details/physicssciengv2p00serw }} |
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* {{cite book | last = Tipler | first = Paul | title = Physics for Scientists and Engineers: Mechanics, Oscillations and Waves, Thermodynamics | edition = 5th | publisher = W.H. Freeman | date = 2004 | isbn = 978-0-7167-0809-4 }} |
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* {{cite book |author=Thorne, Kip S. |author-link=Kip Thorne |author2=Misner, Charles W. |author3=Wheeler, John Archibald |title=Gravitation |publisher=W.H. Freeman |date=1973 |isbn=978-0-7167-0344-0}} |
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* {{cite news |
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|title=Everything you thought you knew about gravity is wrong |
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|first=Richard |
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|last=Panek |
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|date=2 August 2019 |
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|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |
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|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/everything-you-thought-you-knew-about-gravity-is-wrong/2019/08/01/627f3696-a723-11e9-a3a6-ab670962db05_story.html}} |
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== |
==External links== |
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{{sister project links|d=y|wikt=gravity|v=Gravitation|b=Physics Study Guide/Gravity|s=1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Gravitation|c=category:Gravitation|n=no|q=Gravity|m=no|mw=no|species=no}} |
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{{wiktionary}} |
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* [https://feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/I_07.html The Feynman Lectures on Physics Vol. I Ch. 7: The Theory of Gravitation] |
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{{commonscat|Gravitation}} |
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* {{springer|title=Gravitation|id=p/g045040}} |
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* [http://www.lightandmatter.com/html_books/1np/ch10/ch10.html Chapter 10. Gravity], from Light and Matter: educational materials for physics and astronomy |
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* {{springer|title=Gravitation, theory of|id=p/g045050}} |
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* [http://einstein.stanford.edu/ Gravity Probe B Experiment] The Official Einstein website from Stanford University |
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* [http://geophysics.mines.edu/cgem Center for Gravity, Electrical, and Magnetic Studies] |
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* [http://static.scribd.com/docs/8deo8fwbo2y96.swf Gravity for kids] (flash) |
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* [http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/phy99/phy99x10.htm Ask a scientist], Physics Archive |
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* How stuff works: |
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** [http://www.howstuffworks.com/question232.htm How does gravity work?] |
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** [http://www.howstuffworks.com/what-if-zero-gravity.htm What if there were no gravity on Earth?] |
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* [http://www.physorg.com/news85310822.html Alternative theory of gravity explains large structure formation -- without dark matter] [[PhysOrg.com]] |
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* [http://www.fourmilab.ch/gravitation/foobar/ Do it yourself, gravitation experiment] |
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* [http://frizzyphysics.blogspot.com/2008/08/2-common-forces-gravitation-and.html How to calculate the size of the gravitation] |
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Latest revision as of 16:48, 19 December 2024
Part of a series on |
Classical mechanics |
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In physics, gravity (from Latin gravitas 'weight'[1]) is a fundamental interaction primarily observed as mutual attraction between all things that have mass. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the strong interaction, 1036 times weaker than the electromagnetic force and 1029 times weaker than the weak interaction. As a result, it has no significant influence at the level of subatomic particles.[2] However, gravity is the most significant interaction between objects at the macroscopic scale, and it determines the motion of planets, stars, galaxies, and even light.
On Earth, gravity gives weight to physical objects, and the Moon's gravity is responsible for sublunar tides in the oceans. The corresponding antipodal tide is caused by the inertia of the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Gravity also has many important biological functions, helping to guide the growth of plants through the process of gravitropism and influencing the circulation of fluids in multicellular organisms.
The gravitational attraction between the original gaseous matter in the universe caused it to coalesce and form stars which eventually condensed into galaxies, so gravity is responsible for many of the large-scale structures in the universe. Gravity has an infinite range, although its effects become weaker as objects get farther away.
Gravity is most accurately described by the general theory of relativity, proposed by Albert Einstein in 1915, which describes gravity not as a force, but as the curvature of spacetime, caused by the uneven distribution of mass, and causing masses to move along geodesic lines. The most extreme example of this curvature of spacetime is a black hole, from which nothing—not even light—can escape once past the black hole's event horizon.[3] However, for most applications, gravity is well approximated by Newton's law of universal gravitation, which describes gravity as a force causing any two bodies to be attracted toward each other, with magnitude proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
Current models of particle physics imply that the earliest instance of gravity in the universe, possibly in the form of quantum gravity, supergravity or a gravitational singularity, along with ordinary space and time, developed during the Planck epoch (up to 10−43 seconds after the birth of the universe), possibly from a primeval state, such as a false vacuum, quantum vacuum or virtual particle, in a currently unknown manner.[4] Scientists are currently working to develop a theory of gravity consistent with quantum mechanics, a quantum gravity theory,[5] which would allow gravity to be united in a common mathematical framework (a theory of everything) with the other three fundamental interactions of physics.
Definitions
Gravitation, also known as gravitational attraction, is the mutual attraction between all masses in the universe. Gravity is the gravitational attraction at the surface of a planet or other celestial body;[6] gravity may also include, in addition to gravitation, the centrifugal force resulting from the planet's rotation .[7]
History
Ancient world
The nature and mechanism of gravity were explored by a wide range of ancient scholars. In Greece, Aristotle believed that objects fell towards the Earth because the Earth was the center of the Universe and attracted all of the mass in the Universe towards it. He also thought that the speed of a falling object should increase with its weight, a conclusion that was later shown to be false.[8] While Aristotle's view was widely accepted throughout Ancient Greece, there were other thinkers such as Plutarch who correctly predicted that the attraction of gravity was not unique to the Earth.[9]
Although he did not understand gravity as a force, the ancient Greek philosopher Archimedes discovered the center of gravity of a triangle.[10] He postulated that if two equal weights did not have the same center of gravity, the center of gravity of the two weights together would be in the middle of the line that joins their centers of gravity.[11] Two centuries later, the Roman engineer and architect Vitruvius contended in his De architectura that gravity is not dependent on a substance's weight but rather on its "nature".[12] In the 6th century CE, the Byzantine Alexandrian scholar John Philoponus proposed the theory of impetus, which modifies Aristotle's theory that "continuation of motion depends on continued action of a force" by incorporating a causative force that diminishes over time.[13]
In 628 CE, the Indian mathematician and astronomer Brahmagupta proposed the idea that gravity is an attractive force that draws objects to the Earth and used the term gurutvākarṣaṇ to describe it.[14]: 105 [15][16]
In the ancient Middle East, gravity was a topic of fierce debate. The Persian intellectual Al-Biruni believed that the force of gravity was not unique to the Earth, and he correctly assumed that other heavenly bodies should exert a gravitational attraction as well.[17] In contrast, Al-Khazini held the same position as Aristotle that all matter in the Universe is attracted to the center of the Earth.[18]
Scientific revolution
In the mid-16th century, various European scientists experimentally disproved the Aristotelian notion that heavier objects fall at a faster rate.[19] In particular, the Spanish Dominican priest Domingo de Soto wrote in 1551 that bodies in free fall uniformly accelerate.[19] De Soto may have been influenced by earlier experiments conducted by other Dominican priests in Italy, including those by Benedetto Varchi, Francesco Beato, Luca Ghini, and Giovan Bellaso which contradicted Aristotle's teachings on the fall of bodies.[19]
The mid-16th century Italian physicist Giambattista Benedetti published papers claiming that, due to specific gravity, objects made of the same material but with different masses would fall at the same speed.[20] With the 1586 Delft tower experiment, the Flemish physicist Simon Stevin observed that two cannonballs of differing sizes and weights fell at the same rate when dropped from a tower.[21] In the late 16th century, Galileo Galilei's careful measurements of balls rolling down inclines allowed him to firmly establish that gravitational acceleration is the same for all objects.[22] Galileo postulated that air resistance is the reason that objects with a low density and high surface area fall more slowly in an atmosphere.
In 1604, Galileo correctly hypothesized that the distance of a falling object is proportional to the square of the time elapsed.[23] This was later confirmed by Italian scientists Jesuits Grimaldi and Riccioli between 1640 and 1650. They also calculated the magnitude of the Earth's gravity by measuring the oscillations of a pendulum.[24]
Newton's theory of gravitation
In 1657, Robert Hooke published his Micrographia, in which he hypothesized that the Moon must have its own gravity.[25] In 1666, he added two further principles: that all bodies move in straight lines until deflected by some force and that the attractive force is stronger for closer bodies. In a communication to the Royal Society in 1666, Hooke wrote[26]
I will explain a system of the world very different from any yet received. It is founded on the following positions. 1. That all the heavenly bodies have not only a gravitation of their parts to their own proper centre, but that they also mutually attract each other within their spheres of action. 2. That all bodies having a simple motion, will continue to move in a straight line, unless continually deflected from it by some extraneous force, causing them to describe a circle, an ellipse, or some other curve. 3. That this attraction is so much the greater as the bodies are nearer. As to the proportion in which those forces diminish by an increase of distance, I own I have not discovered it....
Hooke's 1674 Gresham lecture, An Attempt to prove the Annual Motion of the Earth, explained that gravitation applied to "all celestial bodies"[27]
In 1684, Newton sent a manuscript to Edmond Halley titled De motu corporum in gyrum ('On the motion of bodies in an orbit'), which provided a physical justification for Kepler's laws of planetary motion.[28] Halley was impressed by the manuscript and urged Newton to expand on it, and a few years later Newton published a groundbreaking book called Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy). In this book, Newton described gravitation as a universal force, and claimed that "the forces which keep the planets in their orbs must [be] reciprocally as the squares of their distances from the centers about which they revolve." This statement was later condensed into the following inverse-square law:
where F is the force, m1 and m2 are the masses of the objects interacting, r is the distance between the centers of the masses and G is the gravitational constant 6.674×10−11 m3⋅kg−1⋅s−2.[29]
Newton's Principia was well received by the scientific community, and his law of gravitation quickly spread across the European world.[30] More than a century later, in 1821, his theory of gravitation rose to even greater prominence when it was used to predict the existence of Neptune. In that year, the French astronomer Alexis Bouvard used this theory to create a table modeling the orbit of Uranus, which was shown to differ significantly from the planet's actual trajectory. In order to explain this discrepancy, many astronomers speculated that there might be a large object beyond the orbit of Uranus which was disrupting its orbit. In 1846, the astronomers John Couch Adams and Urbain Le Verrier independently used Newton's law to predict Neptune's location in the night sky, and the planet was discovered there within a day.[31]
General relativity
General relativity |
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Eventually, astronomers noticed an eccentricity in the orbit of the planet Mercury which could not be explained by Newton's theory: the perihelion of the orbit was increasing by about 42.98 arcseconds per century. The most obvious explanation for this discrepancy was an as-yet-undiscovered celestial body, such as a planet orbiting the Sun even closer than Mercury, but all efforts to find such a body turned out to be fruitless. In 1915, Albert Einstein developed a theory of general relativity which was able to accurately model Mercury's orbit.[32]
In general relativity, the effects of gravitation are ascribed to spacetime curvature instead of a force. Einstein began to toy with this idea in the form of the equivalence principle, a discovery which he later described as "the happiest thought of my life."[33] In this theory, free fall is considered to be equivalent to inertial motion, meaning that free-falling inertial objects are accelerated relative to non-inertial observers on the ground.[34][35] In contrast to Newtonian physics, Einstein believed that it was possible for this acceleration to occur without any force being applied to the object.
Einstein proposed that spacetime is curved by matter, and that free-falling objects are moving along locally straight paths in curved spacetime. These straight paths are called geodesics. As in Newton's first law of motion, Einstein believed that a force applied to an object would cause it to deviate from a geodesic. For instance, people standing on the surface of the Earth are prevented from following a geodesic path because the mechanical resistance of the Earth exerts an upward force on them. This explains why moving along the geodesics in spacetime is considered inertial.
Einstein's description of gravity was quickly accepted by the majority of physicists, as it was able to explain a wide variety of previously baffling experimental results.[36] In the coming years, a wide range of experiments provided additional support for the idea of general relativity.[37]: p.1-9 [38][39][40][41] Today, Einstein's theory of relativity is used for all gravitational calculations where absolute precision is desired, although Newton's inverse-square law is accurate enough for virtually all ordinary calculations.[37]: p.79 [42]
Modern research
In modern physics, general relativity remains the framework for the understanding of gravity.[43] Physicists continue to work to find solutions to the Einstein field equations that form the basis of general relativity and continue to test the theory, finding excellent agreement in all cases.[44][45][37]: p.9
Einstein field equations
The Einstein field equations are a system of 10 partial differential equations which describe how matter affects the curvature of spacetime. The system is often expressed in the form where Gμν is the Einstein tensor, gμν is the metric tensor, Tμν is the stress–energy tensor, Λ is the cosmological constant, is the Newtonian constant of gravitation and is the speed of light.[46] The constant is referred to as the Einstein gravitational constant.[47]
A major area of research is the discovery of exact solutions to the Einstein field equations. Solving these equations amounts to calculating a precise value for the metric tensor (which defines the curvature and geometry of spacetime) under certain physical conditions. There is no formal definition for what constitutes such solutions, but most scientists agree that they should be expressable using elementary functions or linear differential equations.[48] Some of the most notable solutions of the equations include:
- The Schwarzschild solution, which describes spacetime surrounding a spherically symmetric non-rotating uncharged massive object. For compact enough objects, this solution generated a black hole with a central singularity.[49] At points far away from the central mass, the accelerations predicted by the Schwarzschild solution are practically identical to those predicted by Newton's theory of gravity.[50]
- The Reissner–Nordström solution, which analyzes a non-rotating spherically symmetric object with charge and was independently discovered by several different researchers between 1916 and 1921.[51] In some cases, this solution can predict the existence of black holes with double event horizons.[52]
- The Kerr solution, which generalizes the Schwarzchild solution to rotating massive objects. Because of the difficulty of factoring in the effects of rotation into the Einstein field equations, this solution was not discovered until 1963.[53]
- The Kerr–Newman solution for charged, rotating massive objects. This solution was derived in 1964, using the same technique of complex coordinate transformation that was used for the Kerr solution.[54]
- The cosmological Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker solution, discovered in 1922 by Alexander Friedmann and then confirmed in 1927 by Georges Lemaître. This solution was revolutionary for predicting the expansion of the Universe, which was confirmed seven years later after a series of measurements by Edwin Hubble.[55] It even showed that general relativity was incompatible with a static universe, and Einstein later conceded that he had been wrong to design his field equations to account for a Universe that was not expanding.[56]
Today, there remain many important situations in which the Einstein field equations have not been solved. Chief among these is the two-body problem, which concerns the geometry of spacetime around two mutually interacting massive objects, such as the Sun and the Earth, or the two stars in a binary star system. The situation gets even more complicated when considering the interactions of three or more massive bodies (the "n-body problem"), and some scientists suspect that the Einstein field equations will never be solved in this context.[57] However, it is still possible to construct an approximate solution to the field equations in the n-body problem by using the technique of post-Newtonian expansion.[58] In general, the extreme nonlinearity of the Einstein field equations makes it difficult to solve them in all but the most specific cases.[59]
Gravity and quantum mechanics
Despite its success in predicting the effects of gravity at large scales, general relativity is ultimately incompatible with quantum mechanics. This is because general relativity describes gravity as a smooth, continuous distortion of spacetime, while quantum mechanics holds that all forces arise from the exchange of discrete particles known as quanta. This contradiction is especially vexing to physicists because the other three fundamental forces (strong force, weak force and electromagnetism) were reconciled with a quantum framework decades ago.[60] As a result, modern researchers have begun to search for a theory that could unite both gravity and quantum mechanics under a more general framework.[61]
One path is to describe gravity in the framework of quantum field theory, which has been successful to accurately describe the other fundamental interactions. The electromagnetic force arises from an exchange of virtual photons, where the QFT description of gravity is that there is an exchange of virtual gravitons.[62][63] This description reproduces general relativity in the classical limit. However, this approach fails at short distances of the order of the Planck length,[64] where a more complete theory of quantum gravity (or a new approach to quantum mechanics) is required.
Tests of general relativity
Testing the predictions of general relativity has historically been difficult, because they are almost identical to the predictions of Newtonian gravity for small energies and masses.[65] Still, since its development, an ongoing series of experimental results have provided support for the theory:[65] In 1919, the British astrophysicist Arthur Eddington was able to confirm the predicted gravitational lensing of light during that year's solar eclipse.[66][67] Eddington measured starlight deflections twice those predicted by Newtonian corpuscular theory, in accordance with the predictions of general relativity. Although Eddington's analysis was later disputed, this experiment made Einstein famous almost overnight and caused general relativity to become widely accepted in the scientific community.[68]
In 1959, American physicists Robert Pound and Glen Rebka performed an experiment in which they used gamma rays to confirm the prediction of gravitational time dilation. By sending the rays down a 74-foot tower and measuring their frequency at the bottom, the scientists confirmed that light is redshifted as it moves towards a source of gravity. The observed redshift also supported the idea that time runs more slowly in the presence of a gravitational field.[69] The time delay of light passing close to a massive object was first identified by Irwin I. Shapiro in 1964 in interplanetary spacecraft signals.[70]
In 1971, scientists discovered the first-ever black hole in the galaxy Cygnus. The black hole was detected because it was emitting bursts of x-rays as it consumed a smaller star, and it came to be known as Cygnus X-1.[71] This discovery confirmed yet another prediction of general relativity, because Einstein's equations implied that light could not escape from a sufficiently large and compact object.[72]
General relativity states that gravity acts on light and matter equally, meaning that a sufficiently massive object could warp light around it and create a gravitational lens. This phenomenon was first confirmed by observation in 1979 using the 2.1 meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, which saw two mirror images of the same quasar whose light had been bent around the galaxy YGKOW G1.[73][74]
Frame dragging, the idea that a rotating massive object should twist spacetime around it, was confirmed by Gravity Probe B results in 2011.[75][76] In 2015, the LIGO observatory detected faint gravitational waves, the existence of which had been predicted by general relativity. Scientists believe that the waves emanated from a black hole merger that occurred 1.5 billion light-years away.[77]
Specifics
Earth's gravity
Every planetary body (including the Earth) is surrounded by its own gravitational field, which can be conceptualized with Newtonian physics as exerting an attractive force on all objects. Assuming a spherically symmetrical planet, the strength of this field at any given point above the surface is proportional to the planetary body's mass and inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the center of the body.
The strength of the gravitational field is numerically equal to the acceleration of objects under its influence.[78] The rate of acceleration of falling objects near the Earth's surface varies very slightly depending on latitude, surface features such as mountains and ridges, and perhaps unusually high or low sub-surface densities.[79] For purposes of weights and measures, a standard gravity value is defined by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, under the International System of Units (SI).
The force of gravity experienced by objects on Earth's surface is the vector sum of two forces:[7] (a) The gravitational attraction in accordance with Newton's universal law of gravitation, and (b) the centrifugal force, which results from the choice of an earthbound, rotating frame of reference. The force of gravity is weakest at the equator because of the centrifugal force caused by the Earth's rotation and because points on the equator are furthest from the center of the Earth. The force of gravity varies with latitude and increases from about 9.780 m/s2 at the Equator to about 9.832 m/s2 at the poles.[80][81]
Gravitational radiation
General relativity predicts that energy can be transported out of a system through gravitational radiation. The first indirect evidence for gravitational radiation was through measurements of the Hulse–Taylor binary in 1973. This system consists of a pulsar and neutron star in orbit around one another. Its orbital period has decreased since its initial discovery due to a loss of energy, which is consistent for the amount of energy loss due to gravitational radiation. This research was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1993.[82]
The first direct evidence for gravitational radiation was measured on 14 September 2015 by the LIGO detectors. The gravitational waves emitted during the collision of two black holes 1.3 billion light years from Earth were measured.[83][84] This observation confirms the theoretical predictions of Einstein and others that such waves exist. It also opens the way for practical observation and understanding of the nature of gravity and events in the Universe including the Big Bang.[85] Neutron star and black hole formation also create detectable amounts of gravitational radiation.[86] This research was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017.[87]
Speed of gravity
In December 2012, a research team in China announced that it had produced measurements of the phase lag of Earth tides during full and new moons which seem to prove that the speed of gravity is equal to the speed of light.[88] This means that if the Sun suddenly disappeared, the Earth would keep orbiting the vacant point normally for 8 minutes, which is the time light takes to travel that distance. The team's findings were released in Science Bulletin in February 2013.[89]
In October 2017, the LIGO and Virgo detectors received gravitational wave signals within 2 seconds of gamma ray satellites and optical telescopes seeing signals from the same direction. This confirmed that the speed of gravitational waves was the same as the speed of light.[90]
Anomalies and discrepancies
There are some observations that are not adequately accounted for, which may point to the need for better theories of gravity or perhaps be explained in other ways.
- Extra-fast stars: Stars in galaxies follow a distribution of velocities where stars on the outskirts are moving faster than they should according to the observed distributions of normal matter. Galaxies within galaxy clusters show a similar pattern. Dark matter, which would interact through gravitation but not electromagnetically, would account for the discrepancy. Various modifications to Newtonian dynamics have also been proposed.
- Accelerated expansion: The expansion of the universe seems to be speeding up.[91] Dark energy has been proposed to explain this.[92]
- Flyby anomaly: Various spacecraft have experienced greater acceleration than expected during gravity assist maneuvers.[93] The Pioneer anomaly has been shown to be explained by thermal recoil due to the distant sun radiation on one side of the space craft.[94][95]
Alternative theories
Historical alternative theories
- Aristotelian theory of gravity
- Le Sage's theory of gravitation (1784) also called LeSage gravity but originally proposed by Fatio and further elaborated by Georges-Louis Le Sage, based on a fluid-based explanation where a light gas fills the entire Universe.
- Ritz's theory of gravitation, Ann. Chem. Phys. 13, 145, (1908) pp. 267–271, Weber–Gauss electrodynamics applied to gravitation. Classical advancement of perihelia.
- Nordström's theory of gravitation (1912, 1913), an early competitor of general relativity.
- Kaluza–Klein theory (1921)
- Whitehead's theory of gravitation (1922), another early competitor of general relativity.
Modern alternative theories
- Brans–Dicke theory of gravity (1961)[96]
- Induced gravity (1967), a proposal by Andrei Sakharov according to which general relativity might arise from quantum field theories of matter
- String theory (late 1960s)
- ƒ(R) gravity (1970)
- Horndeski theory (1974)[97]
- Supergravity (1976)
- In the modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) (1981), Mordehai Milgrom proposes a modification of Newton's second law of motion for small accelerations[98]
- The self-creation cosmology theory of gravity (1982) by G.A. Barber in which the Brans–Dicke theory is modified to allow mass creation
- Loop quantum gravity (1988) by Carlo Rovelli, Lee Smolin, and Abhay Ashtekar
- Nonsymmetric gravitational theory (NGT) (1994) by John Moffat
- Tensor–vector–scalar gravity (TeVeS) (2004), a relativistic modification of MOND by Jacob Bekenstein
- Chameleon theory (2004) by Justin Khoury and Amanda Weltman.
- Pressuron theory (2013) by Olivier Minazzoli and Aurélien Hees.
- Conformal gravity[99]
- Gravity as an entropic force, gravity arising as an emergent phenomenon from the thermodynamic concept of entropy.
- In the superfluid vacuum theory the gravity and curved spacetime arise as a collective excitation mode of non-relativistic background superfluid.
- Massive gravity, a theory where gravitons and gravitational waves have a non-zero mass
See also
- Anti-gravity – Idea of creating a place or object that is free from the force of gravity
- Artificial gravity – Use of circular rotational force to mimic gravity
- Equations for a falling body – Mathematical description of a body in free fall
- Escape velocity – Concept in celestial mechanics
- Atmospheric escape – Loss of planetary atmospheric gases to outer space
- Gauss's law for gravity – Restatement of Newton's law of universal gravitation
- Gravitational potential – Fundamental study of potential theory
- Gravitational biology – study of the effects gravity has on living organisms
- Newton's laws of motion – Laws in physics about force and motion
- Standard gravitational parameter – Concept in celestial mechanics
- Weightlessness – Zero apparent weight, microgravity
References
- ^ "dict.cc dictionary :: gravitas :: English-Latin translation". Archived from the original on 13 August 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
- ^ Krebs, Robert E. (1999). Scientific Development and Misconceptions Through the Ages: A Reference Guide (illustrated ed.). Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 133. ISBN 978-0-313-30226-8.
- ^ "HubbleSite: Black Holes: Gravity's Relentless Pull". hubblesite.org. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
- ^ Staff. "Birth of the Universe". University of Oregon. Archived from the original on 28 November 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2016. – discusses "Planck time" and "Planck era" at the very beginning of the Universe
- ^ Overbye, Dennis (10 October 2022). "Black Holes May Hide a Mind-Bending Secret About Our Universe - Take gravity, add quantum mechanics, stir. What do you get? Just maybe, a holographic cosmos". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 16 November 2022. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
- ^ McGraw-Hill Dict (1989)
- ^ a b Hofmann-Wellenhof, B.; Moritz, H. (2006). Physical Geodesy (2nd ed.). Springer. ISBN 978-3-211-33544-4.
§ 2.1: "The total force acting on a body at rest on the earth's surface is the resultant of gravitational force and the centrifugal force of the earth's rotation and is called gravity.
- ^ Cappi, Alberto. "The concept of gravity before Newton" (PDF). Culture and Cosmos. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022.
- ^ Bakker, Frederik; Palmerino, Carla Rita (1 June 2020). "Motion to the Center or Motion to the Whole? Plutarch's Views on Gravity and Their Influence on Galileo". Isis. 111 (2): 217–238. doi:10.1086/709138. hdl:2066/219256. ISSN 0021-1753. S2CID 219925047. Archived from the original on 2 May 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
- ^ Reviel Neitz; William Noel (13 October 2011). The Archimedes Codex: Revealing The Secrets of the World's Greatest Palimpsest. Hachette UK. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-78022-198-4. Archived from the original on 7 January 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
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Further reading
- I. Bernard Cohen (1999) [1687]. "A Guide to Newton's Principia". The Principia : mathematical principles of natural philosophy. By Newton, Isaac. Translated by I. Bernard Cohen. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520088160. OCLC 313895715.
- Halliday, David; Robert Resnick; Kenneth S. Krane (2001). Physics v. 1. New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-32057-9.
- Serway, Raymond A.; Jewett, John W. (2004). Physics for Scientists and Engineers (6th ed.). Brooks/Cole. ISBN 978-0-534-40842-8.
- Tipler, Paul (2004). Physics for Scientists and Engineers: Mechanics, Oscillations and Waves, Thermodynamics (5th ed.). W.H. Freeman. ISBN 978-0-7167-0809-4.
- Thorne, Kip S.; Misner, Charles W.; Wheeler, John Archibald (1973). Gravitation. W.H. Freeman. ISBN 978-0-7167-0344-0.
- Panek, Richard (2 August 2019). "Everything you thought you knew about gravity is wrong". The Washington Post.