• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

The Graviton

This thread is blessed by...

500px-SpacePope_zpsshd4qvap.png
 
If...a galaxy is a universe, and...a universe is a galaxy. then...the edge of the known collections of solar systems must be made of wood...and if...the wood floats...
 
Here is the thing...

I don't understand german, so if I read a book written in german out loud from cover to cover (every single word), do I know anything about that book?

Most people (including an astonishing number of physicists) have no idea how gravity works because they aren't willing to invest the time to learn the math (geometry) needed to have true understanding of it. The math that they often learn in their General Relativity courses (Tensor Analysis) they understand mechanically... they can insert numbers and get out numbers, and those numbers match the data so it must work. But they don't understand why, they are left with weak anecdotes and flawed visualizations which actually mislead them what is actually happening.

Gravitons are a joke because once you understand what gravity is, you also understand what it is not... gravity is not a force. So making up a force particle for a nonexistent force because of a fundamental lack of understanding (based on not taking the time/effort to gain actual understanding) is the punch line.

If many physicists, people who went to school for this stuff, can't get this even after taking dedicated courses on the subject (sadly, too often taught by people who don't understand it themselves), how would anyone imagine that a wiki article will bring them up to speed on any of this?

When you realize what gravity is, and remember that Einstein came up with this before he even had the math (geometry) to describe it, you come to an amazing realization that Einstein (a hundred years later) is still one of the most amazing people to ever walk this planet!
 
Wow. The old "I don't speak German, therefore your argument is invalid" ploy. It reminds me of a Rutherford quote concerning barmaids.
 
Here is the thing...

I don't understand german, so if I read a book written in german out loud from cover to cover (every single word), do I know anything about that book?

Most people (including an astonishing number of physicists) have no idea how gravity works because they aren't willing to invest the time to learn the math (geometry) needed to have true understanding of it. The math that they often learn in their General Relativity courses (Tensor Analysis) they understand mechanically... they can insert numbers and get out numbers, and those numbers match the data so it must work. But they don't understand why, they are left with weak anecdotes and flawed visualizations which actually mislead them what is actually happening.

Gravitons are a joke because once you understand what gravity is, you also understand what it is not... gravity is not a force. So making up a force particle for a nonexistent force because of a fundamental lack of understanding (based on not taking the time/effort to gain actual understanding) is the punch line.

If many physicists, people who went to school for this stuff, can't get this even after taking dedicated courses on the subject (sadly, too often taught by people who don't understand it themselves), how would anyone imagine that a wiki article will bring them up to speed on any of this?

When you realize what gravity is, and remember that Einstein came up with this before he even had the math (geometry) to describe it, you come to an amazing realization that Einstein (a hundred years later) is still one of the most amazing people to ever walk this planet!

I watched too many of my physics professors spinning preposterous thought experiments to explain the math (tensor analysis in particular!) for me to shake the conclusion that a disturbingly large portion of theoretical physics is happening in an academic bubble with its own internal logic and an increasingly tenuous connection to the real world. Physicists clearly understand how the numbers work, but have almost no understanding of what the numbers actually mean.
 
Unless nothing is outside of our Universe.

About that--there may be tests that can be used
http://arxiv.org/abs/1501.05397
How can there even be an outside of the universe is everywhere is the center of the universe?

---------------

Well (a one-word "Gravity" joke) after reading the attached article, seemingly from Cornell, all I could think was,

"In their world, you keep what you kill"

"Multiverse"...it's fun to say...say it...
 
As I understand it the concept of gravity and the concept of the universe expanding contradict one another. If gravity were doing what is supposed to be doing everything should be slowing down and being pulled towards one another.

Instead things are woving away from one another and seem to be moving faster as they near the outer edges of the visible universe. It's presumed objects near the true edge of the universe are moving faster than light.

How all this happening is by the idea of dark matter an invisible, intangible, matter that is attracting objects to IT rather than each other.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top