Posts: 1114
Threads: 28
Joined: June 13, 2011
Reputation:
18
RE: Why is there gravity?
March 31, 2015 at 2:12 am
(This post was last modified: March 31, 2015 at 2:12 am by Pizza.)
There needs to be an alternative music band called "Hypothetical Schwarzschild Radius."
It is very important not to mistake hemlock for parsley, but to believe or not believe in God is not important at all. - Denis Diderot
We are the United States of Amnesia, we learn nothing because we remember nothing. - Gore Vidal
Posts: 18510
Threads: 129
Joined: January 19, 2014
Reputation:
91
RE: Why is there gravity?
April 5, 2015 at 9:44 am
(This post was last modified: April 5, 2015 at 9:45 am by Alex K.)
(March 31, 2015 at 1:38 am)bennyboy Wrote: (March 30, 2015 at 8:48 pm)Alex K Wrote: Yes, in a sense, electrons in some energy level don't have a fixed distance to the nucleus. But strictly speaking there are no such things as electron orbits, there are only wave functions giving you probability of location and momentum. The picture of a pointlike electron orbiting the nucleus is false
Could you then explain in relative layman's terms what "localizing the electrons in a smaller and smaller space near the nucleus automatically lets them have a larger momentum due to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, which then lets them escape" means? If the electron as a point particle is a metaphor, then it seems that statement relies heavily on that metaphor.
Nothing relies on metaphors because the actual arguments are maths based. The calculations are performed in a theory framework, which in the case of quantum mechanics assumes electrons to be point particles, but which are subject to quantum uncertainty and whose states are therefore characterized by their wave function. The assumption that the electron is pointlike is a good one because it is empirically tested on the scales relevant to atomic physics
What is meant when one says that the electron is localized in a small space, is that the quantum state of the particle is prepared such that the wave function vanishes outside of this confined area.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
Posts: 1164
Threads: 7
Joined: January 1, 2014
Reputation:
23
RE: Why is there gravity?
April 5, 2015 at 10:59 am
(April 5, 2015 at 9:44 am)Alex K Wrote:
What is meant when one says that the electron is localized in a small space, is that the quantum state of the particle is prepared such that the wave function vanishes outside of this confined area. Or gets really, really small.
![[Image: 220px-Cens_nanomanipulation3d_Trixler.jpg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Cens_nanomanipulation3d_Trixler.jpg/220px-Cens_nanomanipulation3d_Trixler.jpg)
So how, exactly, does God know that She's NOT a brain in a vat? 
Posts: 29107
Threads: 218
Joined: August 9, 2014
Reputation:
155
RE: Why is there gravity?
April 5, 2015 at 11:06 am
(This post was last modified: April 5, 2015 at 11:07 am by robvalue.)
What's with the d squared? I remember my A level physics teacher had us guess what power the d would be in the gravitational equation. For some reason I guessed 2. Freaky.
Posts: 29
Threads: 1
Joined: April 17, 2015
Reputation:
1
RE: Why is there gravity?
April 17, 2015 at 4:10 pm
We don't know for certain what causes gravity. All we know is that it has something to do with mass. If you stand on the edge of a cliff and dangle a ping-pong ball on string over the cliff, the ping pong ball will lean in toward the cliff (the cliff having greater mass than the ping pong ball).
Posts: 9147
Threads: 83
Joined: May 22, 2013
Reputation:
46
RE: Why is there gravity?
April 18, 2015 at 4:32 am
"Why" means different things. Ultimately, it will go to things we cannot understand. Why is there matter? Why does it bend space? Why is there even space, rather than nothing at all?
So the simplest answer is "because matter bends space," and the ultimate answer is unknown and probably unknowable.
Posts: 18510
Threads: 129
Joined: January 19, 2014
Reputation:
91
RE: Why is there gravity?
April 18, 2015 at 6:11 am
(This post was last modified: April 18, 2015 at 6:14 am by Alex K.)
(April 18, 2015 at 4:32 am)bennyboy Wrote: "Why" means different things. Ultimately, it will go to things we cannot understand. Why is there matter? Why does it bend space? Why is there even space, rather than nothing at all?
So the simplest answer is "because matter bends space," and the ultimate answer is unknown and probably unknowable. Yes, exactly.
But that's the usual problem with explanations which Feynman illustrated so nicely - explanations need to relate the phenomenon to something else. But what if you're already at the most fundamental level? How would you ever avoid being circular?
And why questions may possibly be meaningless because they invoke a naive everyday concept of causation which may not apply to the issue at hand
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
Posts: 67163
Threads: 140
Joined: June 28, 2011
Reputation:
162
RE: Why is there gravity?
April 18, 2015 at 6:58 am
(This post was last modified: April 18, 2015 at 7:03 am by The Grand Nudger.)
-and on that note, either our everyday concept of causality is wrong, something is wrong with our system of logical operations, or something is wrong with the mechanics of the language we use to express causality leading to either 1, 2, or both (or yet more...including a mix of all of the above). If we trust in the principles of logic - we can't trust in our notions of cause or our language. If we trust our notions of cause or our language..we can't trust logic. Really tough spot to be in, ala the problem of the sunken schooner and the bay herald.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
Posts: 2174
Threads: 89
Joined: August 26, 2012
Reputation:
38
RE: Why is there gravity?
April 18, 2015 at 7:48 am
Don't you really mean what is the "purpose" of matter? That's how the ignorant theists always phrase it..
Find the cure for Fundementia!
Posts: 30129
Threads: 304
Joined: April 18, 2014
Reputation:
92
RE: Why is there gravity?
April 18, 2015 at 9:21 am
Universes without gravity generate beings very different from us that may not ask questions like "Why is there gravity?'.
Be thinking palps, lots and lots of palps . . . .
The granting of a pardon is an imputation of guilt, and the acceptance a confession of it.
|
