Einstein was wrong, wasn't he?

[seriously disabled]

Einstein was wrong in my opinion.

 

Gravity is really caused by interactions between atoms and molecules and not by a fictitious curvature of spacetime. I guess that would also explain dark energy and dark matter.

[elfmotat]

Well, sort of. A curved spacetime is physically equivalent to a spin-2 massless field on a flat background spacetime.(For reference see http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0006423 ) They both predict the same things. The quantization of a spin-2 field would be gravitons, though there's no currently accepted model of quantum gravity.

 

In string theory, a graviton (which mediates the gravitational force) can be removed by replacing it with a correction of the background spacetime. So the two are equivalent in this context as well.

 

There's also the possibility that gravity isn't a fundamental force at all, and that its' actually an entropic phenomenon. A good place to start on this would be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropic_gravity .

 

 

Ultimately though, physics doesn't tell us what's "really" happening. It gives us a mathematical model which quantitatively describes phenomenon. So whether or not spacetime is "actually" curved cannot be answered with physics. The best we can do is say, "the data we observe agrees with what we should find if spacetime is curved."

[seriously disabled]

Unfortunately for me, the mathematics of general relativity is too complicated and (super)string theory is even more mathematically complicated than general relativity. I will probably never understand general relativity and superstring theory because the mathematics is just too difficult.

 

Also in order to experimentally test superstring theory and competing quantum gravity theories we'll probably need a particle accelerator in the size of Jupiter.

 

However I believe that maybe one day we'll figure out how to build one.

Edited February 14, 2013 by seriously disabled

[ajb]

Einstein was wrong in my opinion.

 

Gravity is really caused by interactions between atoms and molecules and not by a fictitious curvature of spacetime. I guess that would also explain dark energy and dark matter.

Do you have any argument to backup your claims?

[seriously disabled]

Do you have any argument to backup your claims?

 

Yes I have plenty. See nasty little truth about spacetime physics:

 

http://www.rebelscience.org/Crackpots/notorious.htm

Edited February 14, 2013 by seriously disabled

[elfmotat]

Yes I have plenty. See nasty little truth about spacetime physics:

 

http://www.rebelscience.org/Crackpots/notorious.htm

Please keep crackpottery like this out of the discussion. Evidently that guy doesn't know the difference between proper time and coordinate time.

Edited February 14, 2013 by elfmotat

[imatfaal]

!

Moderator Note

If we want to discuss merits of alternative (ie quantum gravity etc) theories of gravitation and whether these will contradict(not sure how) Einstein's GR then this thread can stay here. If we are gonna promote foolish notions from another website looking to disprove GR by using schoolboy definitional, mathematical and intepretational (intentional?) mistakes then we will have to move to speculations

[swansont]

Einstein, like every human, was wrong about plenty of things. Relativity, however, is not one of them. Relativity is well-tested and confirmed. GPS works.

 

Unfortunately for me, the mathematics of general relativity is too complicated and (super)string theory is even more mathematically complicated than general relativity. I will probably never understand general relativity and superstring theory because the mathematics is just too difficult.

 

Not understanding something is not the same as it being wrong.

[ajb]

Yes I have plenty.

Feel free to discuss them here rather than link to a crackpot website.

[SamBridge]

So higg's bosons on their own have mass and distort space, so isn't gravity still distortion because the greater coupling with higg's bosons causes an object to distort space more?

[elfmotat]

So higg's bosons on their own have mass and distort space, so isn't gravity still distortion because the greater coupling with higg's bosons causes an object to distort space more?

 

As I said, gravitons and curved spacetime make (AFAIK) equivalent predictions. So whether gravity is "really" caused by gravitons in flat spacetime or whether it's "really" caused energy-momentum changing the geometry of spacetime is not a question physics can answer.