Gravity if one of the four fundamental forces in the universe. Though
the fundamental principles of it eluded scientists until Sir Isaac Newton was
able to mathematically describe it in 1687 (Eddington 93). Gravity plays a
serious part in everyday actions as it keeps everything on the ground; without
gravity everything would be immobile unless a force was applied (then it would
move infinitely because there would be no force to stop it).
Perhaps, the best place to start then would be with such a simple item
as an apple (after all it is what "sparked" Newton's creativity). The apple is
one of the two curiosities (the other being the moon) that led Newton to
discover The Law of Universal Gravitation in 1666 (Eddington 93). As Newton
later wrote, it is the story of the sight of an apple falling to the ground (he
was resting at Woolsthorpe because of the plague at Cambridge) that caused
Newton to wonder if this same force was what held the moon in place (Gamow 41).
Newton knew that an object fell to the earth at a rate of about 9.8
meters (32 feet) per second second as pointed out by Galileo. Thus "the apple
that fell from the tree" fell to Earth at about this rate. For the first basic
explanation of this we will assume a linear plane, one in which all forces act
in only one direction. Therefore when the apple fell it went straight towards
the center of the earth (accelerating at about 9.8 meters per second second).
Newton then figured that the same force that pulled the apple to Earth also
pulls the moon to the earth. But what force keeps the moon from flying into the
earth or the earth flying into the sun (Edwards 493)?
To better understand this, one other aspect must first be understood.
Galileo showed that all objects fall to the earth at the same rate (the classic
cannonball and feather proved this). But why? If a piano and a saxophone were
both dropped from the top of the Empire State Building then they would both slam
into the ground at the same rate. Newton realized then that the moon and the
apple were both being pulled towards Earth at the same rate but yet the moon was
the only one who resisted the force and stayed in its elliptical orbit
(Eddington 94). Newton's Third Law of Motion says that every force exerted by...
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... proposed the origin of gravity.
Newton's law always proved to be true in the common world but did not explain
the source of the force (Eddington 95). Albert Einstein proposed his Theory of
Gravity in his General Theory of Relativity. In this he said that space was a
three dimensional plane and that masses curved this plane in one way or another
(Eddington 95). Thus a massive object would cause a large "hole" and smaller
objects would "orbit" it. It is interesting to note that in either case,
Newton's or Einstein's law, both prove to be true in the common world. Massive
universal objects, such as black holes, are an exception but that's another
story in itself (Edwards 498).
Works Cited
Zitzewitz, Paul W., Robert F. Neff, and Mark Davids. (1992). Physics:
Principles and Problems. Peoria, Illinois: Glencoe.
Gamow, George. (1962). Gravity: Classic and Modern Views. Garden City, New
York: Anchor Books.
Eddington, Sir Arthur. (1987). Space, Time, & Gravitation: An Outline of the
General Relativity Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Edwards, Paul. (Ed.) (1967). The Encyclopedia of Philosophy. New York, New
York: MacMillan.
Furthermore, if we look at the distinguished Scientist Isaac Newton and his acclaimed laws of gravity we can understand some of the thinking tools he used. Mr. Newton’s imagination and inspiration was a key player during the scientific revolution era. “Legend has it that, at this time, Newton experienced his famous inspiration of gravity with the falling apple.” (Bio.org, 2017)
Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity has had a colossal impact on the world and is the accepted physical theory reg...
Newtons second law can be indentified more easily using the equation F=ma. This is an equation that is very familiar to those of us that wish to do well in any physics class! This equation tells us many things. First it tells us the net force that is being exerted on an object, but it also tells us the acceleration of that object as well as its mass. The force on an object is measured in Newtons (I wonder where they got that from). One Newton is equal to one (kg)(m)/s^2. For example, if superman pushes on a 10,000kg truck and it is moving at a rate of 2m/s^2, then the force that superman is exerting on the truck is 20,000N. For those of us that wish to move on in the field of physics, Newtons second law (F=ma) will forever haunt us!
The theory of relativity is the basic theory about space-time continuum and gravitation which was mainly established by the greatest theoretical physicist Albert Einstein. According to the areas it aims to describe, Einstein’s theory of relativity can be classified into special relativity (space-time) and general relativity (gravitation) 1. The theory of relativity, as do quantum mechanics, brought a revolutionary impact on the foundation of modern physics, and thus had an impact on modern technology. And it impacted the “common sense” understanding that people had of the universe by its new concepts such as four dimensional spaces and curved space.
The first record of the movement of the planets was produced by Nicolaus Copernicus. He proposed that the earth was the center of everything, which the term is called geocentric. Kepler challenged the theory that the sun was the center of the earth and proposed that the sun was the center of everything; this term is referred to as heliocentric. Kepler’s heliocentric theory was accepted by most people and is accepted in today’s society. One of Kepler’s friends was a famous person named Galileo. Galileo is known for improving the design and the magnification of the telescope. With improvement of the telescope Galileo could describe the craters of the moon and the moons of Jupiter. Galileo also created the number for acceleration of all free falling objects as 9.8 meters per second. Galileo’s and Kepler’s theories were not approved by all people. Their theories contradicted verses in the bible, so the protestant church was extremely skeptical of both Galileo and Kepler’s
Part I: The Edge of Knowledge Chapter 1: Tied Up with Strings This is the introductory section, where the author, Brian Greene, examines the fundamentals of what is currently proven to be true by experimentation in the realm of modern physics. Green goes on to talk more about "The Basic Idea" of string theory. He describes how physicists are aspiring to reach the Theory of Everything, or T.O.E. Some suspect when string theory is completely understood that it might turn out to become the T.O.E.Part II: The Dilemma of Space, Time, and Quanta Chapter 2: Space, Time, and the Eye of the Beholder In the chapter, Greene describes how Albert Einstein solved the paradox about light. In the mid-1800's James Maxwell succeeded in showing that light was actually an electromagnetic wave.
Einstein and Newton are the most popular explanations of gravity to this day. After Einstein, there have been some new theories trying to disprove him. One new popular theory is called emergent gravity and it tries to explain the motions of stars in space. There are many conceptions about gravity that confuse many people. Many people believe space does not have gravity, which is understandable however this is false. Another common misconception is that objects that are farther apart have a strong gravity pull on each other, Newton proved this to be incorrect (“Gravity Misconceptions”). The simple basics of gravity are understood by scientists, but there is still no exact answer that explains just how gravity
The moon is very slowly drifting away from the earth. Currently, it is at a distance of approximately 239,000 miles away from the planet's surface and receding at a miniscule, but steady rate. However, "if one multiplies this recession speed by the presumed evolutionary age, the moon would be much farther away from the earth than it is, even if it had started from the earth. It could not have been receding for anything like the age demanded by the doctrine of evolution." (Barnes) Furthermore, even if the moon had started much closer to the ea...
The Volume Library, vol. I, Physics: Newton's Law of Motion. Pg. 436. The Southwestern Company, Nashville, Tennessee, 1988.
To do so, he points out that a man can lift a stone as easily when he is standing on the ground as when he is standing at the top of a tower. Since there is no difference in the perceivable weight of the stone, there should be no difference in acceleration between the two bodies. In this, he proves that an object near the earth and farther from the earth do not experience different pulls toward the earth based on their proximity to the ground. Similarly, he disagrees with the theory that two falling stones should move with the same speed when they are at the same distance to the ground, no matter if one has already fallen a distance. This is not what we observe in the scenario.
Kirkpatrick, Larry, and Gerald F. Wheeler. Physics: A World View. 4th ed. Orlando: Harcourt College Publishers, 2001.
...lieve that millions of years ago, a piece of rock as big as Mars hit the Earth, and the collision blasted a huge amount of rock into space, and the shattered pieces of rock went into orbit around the Earth. Over millions of years, the rocks clumped together to form the moon, and now it is not the pieces of rock that orbit the Earth, but the moon itself. Scientists, Native Americans, and many other people have their theories of how the moon became, but none have been proven. Scientists have studied the moon for many years, and have proven many theories, but not this one.
Einstein, Albert. Relativity: The Special and General Theory. Three Rivers Press, New York, New York. 1961.
Initially, Albert Einstein was the person to predict the existence of black holes through his General Theory of Relativity, in which he had created several general equations that show the interaction of gravitation as a result of space being curved by matter or energy. In 1915, he published Einstein’s field equations, which specify how the geometry of space and time is influenced by whatever matter and radiation are present, and form the core of Einstein's general theory of relativity (Redd). The general theory relativity was the initial step in the process to finding out more information about black holes. As time went on, there were a few main contributors that solved these equations to help develop better theories on black holes. One of the most important contributors to the development of a better u...