Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 exptools 1/6/84; site ihuxi.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!ihuxi!russ From: russ@ihuxi.UUCP (Russell Spence) Newsgroups: net.philosophy Subject: Re: Gravity anyone? Message-ID: <1020@ihuxi.UUCP> Date: Tue, 14-Aug-84 10:52:56 EDT Article-I.D.: ihuxi.1020 Posted: Tue Aug 14 10:52:56 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 15-Aug-84 00:47:15 EDT References: <3290@decwrl.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL Lines: 33 > How do you "explain" gravity? Are gravitons sent to and fro? Why don't > they cancel each other out if the masses are equal? How fast should > gravity waves travel? Just the speed of light? > > Is mass the cause of gravity or does the movement of the gravitons create > the effect of mass? You can't "explain" gravity just like you can't "explain" any natural laws or physical phenomena. What you can do is observe the effects and assign terms like "gravity", "mass", and "gravitons" to them so that you can make statistical observations about them that will lead to a method of predicting the probable outcome of events. Some scientific systems are more successful at this than others. Modern science has progressed to the point that it can predict what will happen in most circumstances. This has led to the mis- taken belief that science can "explain" things. It can "decribe" things (and events) and can be used to make predictions about future events, but it doesn't really "explain" anything. I would think that your questions could best be answered by a good book on quantum mechanics. The mathematics required to figure out the speed of gravity waves or the movement of gravitons is probably too difficult to make a good subject for the net. If you just want to discuss their existence or what causes the effect of mass and gravity, then you will probably get either a standard textbook response or a personal opinion that has the validity of an answer to the question "which came first, the chicken or the egg?". -- Russell Spence ihnp4!ihuxi!russ AT&T Technologies Naperville, IL