Gravity - a philosophical meditation

[talah]

Oh I thought we were freestorming physics ideas on gravity.
I sometimes wonder if gravity is a mis-translation of universal expansion and if in fact near particles and atomic bonds expanding at a different rate than empty space explains what we perceive as gravity.

Or to look at it another more simplified way, the surface of the earth could be expanding faster than objects which are smaller than it
Or as an converse idea, particle bonds could be collapsing at a very rapidly accelerating rate

And to mix things up pretty horribly, what would be the effect of time as we perceive it being backward? That feeling of being pushed outward while still having your feet on the ground, precariously.

[talah]

well it exists in the sense that we understand that whatever is happening at a moment would be frozen and eternal without time

[talah]

imo

[talah]

Also I have Inception on DVD and was about to just trounce your (very strong and convincing) "time doesn't exist" argument.

But then having a little think, would gravity be affected by time? When Justin Beiber drives that van off the bridge, if time was slowed, would gravity actually respect that slowing of time?

[talah]

TIME >>> -- vs. -- <<< GRAVITY

FIGHT

[talah]

Yeah this might be like the time I emailed a physicist lecturer with my idea that a perpetual motion machine could be made via a newton's cradle style hanger with a series of ratchets and the vertically-attached weights winding about the top bar, with each dropping at freefall to capture energy, while the remaining weights used *some* of that energy to slowly ratchet themselves up until the next took its turn to drop at freefall.

Of course the fatal mistake there was... obvious in hindsight.

[talah]

so the freefall dropping weight, although it gains a lot more energy via e(k)=1/2mv2 - also moves a lot further and therefore nothing is gained by dropping something fast vs winding it up slow.

i guess i learned about e(gp) in physics class but didn't understand exactly what it meant in practical terms - after that I guess I do.

:D

k-kinetic
gp-gravitational potential