Artificial Gravity

[egkenny]

Originally posted by: Woodchuck2000

Originally posted by: Mrpilot007
I'm surprised no one has defined gravity for this discussion:

(physics) the force of attraction between all masses in the universe;

especially the attraction of the earth's mass for bodies near its surface;

"the more remote the body the less the gravity";

"the gravitation between two bodies is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them";

"gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love"--Albert Einstein

Not strictly true - gravity can also affect particles with zero mass. The sun causes a measurable deflection in the light passing nearby from distant stars. Photons are expected by most physicists to have zero mass (zero non-rest mass) and therefore they shouldn't be affected if we use that definition of gravity.

"We also knew that photons are affected by gravitational fields not because photons have mass, but because gravitational fields (in particular, strong gravitational fields) change the shape of space-time."
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/961102.html

 

[the splat in the hat]

"We also knew that photons are affected by gravitational fields not because photons have mass, but because gravitational fields (in particular, strong gravitational fields) change the shape of space-time."

isnt that still being debated ? spacetime n the like ?

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: the splat in the hat
"We also knew that photons are affected by gravitational fields not because photons have mass, but because gravitational fields (in particular, strong gravitational fields) change the shape of space-time."

isnt that still being debated ? spacetime n the like ?

Not really. According to Einstein's theory, light from a distant star would be bent slightly as it passed by our Sun, although the bending would be very slight; somewhere around 1 thousandth of a degree, (weird, I just read this earlier today somewhere), which is like seeing something a mile away move an inch.

Following Einstein's prediction, this has been observed and measured to a great deal of precision. The results are in agreement with Einstein's prediction.

 

[egkenny]

If you throw in enough convoluted words then even the US patent office might buy it:

Space vehicle propelled by the pressure of inflationary vacuum state
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Pars...5.WKU.&OS=PN/6,960,975&RS=PN/6,960,975