Gravity is a Mystery

Okay, so when I write about science I don't write about just anything. I have particular taste in subject matter, limited specifically to topics which are weird, strange, and unusual. For instance, my story about nuclear physics: nobody thinks about how all those protons are sticking together, right? There are others that I haven't written about but might in the future, like prime numbers, buffon's needle, and others. In general I am imminently fascinated by things that just should not be. Gravity is the grandaddy of all of these.

First, lets talk about Sir Isaac Newton. Of all the scientists of the last 500 years, he was the tops. He was the most prolific, the most innovative, and the most enigmatic. The dude invented an entire branch of mathematics, for God's sake (calculus, in case you were wondering. I happen to love calculus, also in case you were wondering). He also invented the reflecting telescope, which uses mirrors instead of lenses to focus the light. The reason I bring him up is because of another thing he 'invented': Gravity. He pioneered the scientific and mathematical models which describe how gravity works in this great universe of ours. Truthfully there were many before him. There have also been many since. Many more brilliant people have further explored and developed additional models, including my hero: Albert Einstein. His major contributions were in the form of General and Special Relativity. I'll write about those two in a later blog, they really deserve their own treatment. Yes, much work has been done to describe the how's of gravity. The trouble is, no one has even remotely cracked the mystery of 'why'.

Gravity seems like a relatively simple and straightforward concept. We all live with it and experience it's effects. You wouldn't think that it would be the deepest scientific mystery of the ages. What's so mysterious about it, you may ask?

Gravity, as we all know effects all things with mass. Gravity draws bodies with mass to each other, the denser the body, the larger the draw. The sun has lots of mass, so does the earth. Gravity draws the earth to the sun from 91,000,000 miles away, keeping the moving earth at that distance fairly constantly. So what is the big f'ing deal?

Body A and body B are 10 feet apart in space. Body A is lighter, and is therefore drawn to body B, and will move closer to it provided it has no other inertia. If space is a vacuum (virtually) and is as empty as empty can be (almost) then there is nothing between these two bodies. How does body A know that body B is there?

Wait a minute. Let it sink in. Ponder it a bit. Now really think about it. The smartest minds on earth have hashed and rehashed this question and no one knows the answer.

So that is the mystery of gravity for ya. Let me know if you have any thoughts and I'll forward them to my contacts at MIT. Okay really I don't have any contacts at MIT. I do know a really smart professor from Germany, though.