I call BS on main stream gravity theory!

Originally posted by rom12345
According to Einstein, gravity is not a force,
rather it is a curvature in space/time induced by mass.

So if you consider, mass and space/time to be real.
Curvature(gravity) is an abstract (illusory) property, not an actual manifestation of anything

This is false. The predictions of GR are directly observable, though their effect is small and requires high-precision measurements. It's as real as anything in physics is real. We're only missing direct experimental proof of gravitational waves (which are not gravity waves), but there's good reason why, the experiment is insanely hard. We have indirect evidence for gravity waves through the decay of pulsar periods, which won my physics professor a Nobel Prize.

I'm not sure what gravity is, myself.

At scales substantially larger than atoms (the scale is not well known), gravity works very much like a curvature of space described by the Einstein equation. This has been experimentally tested for many decades, and over, and over, and over, and over, Einstein's general relativity is experimentally confirmed and alternative theories are disproven.

Actually it's amazing how early general relativity was discovered---it could have easily taken 30-50 more years if there hadn't been an Einstein, with multiple theories competing until one emerges as the winner.

Instead, Einstein figured that "it simply had to be THIS way" and shockingly enough it was. It's discovery is unlike quantum mechanics (and in fact the way most science works)---the understanding of modern QM was the product of many dozens to hundreds of scientists over about 25 years.

Einstein, on the other hand pretty much got nearly everything important about GR correct at the beginning---except he didn't predict black holes. Though they came out of the equations.

reply to post by JohnPhoenix


The reaction force is you pulling up on the earth. The earth accelerates towards you at a rate proportional to the gravitational force and the mass.

Your acceleration towards the earth (on the surface) is around 10 meters per second per second because of your mass.

The force that the earth feels is exactly the same magnitude as you feel.
Because of its mass it does not accelerate towards you very much but it still does..(F = ma)

reply to post by rcsteele


Yes but the barycenter of the two masses the earth and you is very nearly exactly the center of the earth which is it's own center, so you have virtually zero effect on attracting the earth to you. Besides there is likely a bigger dude than you on the opposite side of the earth.

Originally posted by Arbitrageur

Originally posted by topherman420
While we are used to viewing "weak" in a certain context its a bit different here. And gravity has a special relationship with electromagnetism so it makes up for it. I found some info which I had to read 4 times to slightly grasp it lol Interesting stuff but not my profession

Actually that's not really correct anymore, it's dated.

They used to say there were 4 fundamental forces of nature: gravity, strong nuclear, weak nuclear, and electromagnetism.

Now they only say there are 3, the last two have been combined. So the piece you cited about how different they are is moot, as they are no longer considered different fundamental forces.

The OP also had a dated source which still refers to the four fundamental forces. It's now three, not four.

And as others have suggested, put a million weaklings pulling on one end of a rope, and the strongest man ever on the other end of a rope. The strongest man doesn't stand a chance. Gravity is like a million weaklings. Yes it's weak, but there's so much of it, the small weak forces add up to something quite strong.

edit on 23-10-2011 by Arbitrageur because: clarification

In the current Universe, electromagnetism and weak nuclear force are seperate interactions. At very high energies (Think right after the Big Bang) They become one Electroweak force. At some point, it is theorized that all forces break down into one interaction, the unification of electromagnetism, strong and weak force is the grand unified theory, and unifying gravity with those is a theory of everything, which could essentially predict any interaction in the universe.

Anyways what im trying to say is that electromag and weak force are two seperate forces at the scale we use them.