The Law of Gravity

Clarifying the physical meaning of the equivalence principle (the absence of mechanical mass in charged particles) led us to the clarification of the physical sense of Newton's law of gravitation.

In Feynman's lectures, in the chapter devoted to gravity, only a few examples of the explanatory and predictive capabilities of the Newtonian theory are considered. The most convincing evidence of the correctness and wide predictive capabilities presented by Feynman were the prediction of the location of Neptune and an explanation of the appearance of twice-daily tides. Feynman did not notice any defects or contradictions in Newton's theory of gravitation. Moreover, he believed that this theory is a prime example of the mathematical approach to the questions of natural science or, as Feynman said in his Nobel lecture, "probably the best way to create a new theory is to guess equations, ignoring physical models and physical explanations." In his famous lectures, in the chapter devoted to gravity, he wrote: "... since Newton's times and to the present day, no one could describe the mechanism hidden behind the law of gravity, without repeating what Newton has already said, without complicating the mathematics or predicting phenomena which do not actually exist. So we still have no other model for the theory of gravity, except the mathematical one. "

Over the 320 years since the adoption of Newton's law of gravitation, it was found that his theory of gravity is self-contradictory. The accepted theory leads to the paradoxical conclusion that some of the bodies under the action of their own gravitational force should uncontrollably shrink and "collapse",  or virtually disappear from their surroundings. In the book "Gravitation," American physicists call "collapsing to a point" the greatest crisis of physics. This view is shared by many scientists, both physicists and philosophers  www.znanie-sila.ru/people/issue_81.html.

Starting in the second half of the 20^th century, astronomers began to find evidence that huge star clusters break Newton's laws. The most popular hypothesis explaining the "wrong" behavior of galaxies suggests that Newton's laws are not broken and that the observed deviation from the laws is caused by the presence of dark matter. This term is used to denote substance which has not yet been observed experimentally and which takes part in gravitational interaction but does not participate in electromagnetic interaction. Dark matter creates additional mass which is responsible for the slowing-down of the galaxies (see the website arXiv.org).

Observations of supernovae of type Ia conducted in 1998 under Supernova Cosmology Project have, shown that the Hubble's constant changes over time can be explained by an appropriate selection of the value of the cosmological constant Λ, contributing Ω_Λ to the average density Ω. This part of the hidden mass is called dark energy.

Fig.2 Structure of the Universe according to the data from WMAP

The interpretation of the data on the anisotropy of relict radiation obtained in the course of the work of the WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, 2003) led to the following results: the observed density Ω is close to Ωcrit,  and the arrangement Ω = ΩΛ + Ωvis + Ωdark  along components: baryon matter Ωvis - 4 4%, dark cold matter (WIMP) Ωdark - 23%, "dark energy" Ω_Λ - 72,6 ( http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C2%F1%E5%EB%E5%ED%ED%E0%FF)

In our Galaxy, in the neighborhood of the sun, the mass of dark matter is approximately equal to the mass of ordinary matter.

Dark energy is a much stranger substance than dark matter. For one thing, it does not gather into clumps but is uniformly diffused throughout the universe. There is as much dark energy in galaxies and clusters of galaxies as outside them. The most unusual thing is that dark energy, in a certain sense, experiences antigravity. We have already mentioned that, with the help of modern astronomical techniques, one can not only measure the present rate of expansion of the universe but also determine how it has changed over time. Astronomical observations testify that currently (and in the recent past), the universe's expansion is accelerating; the rate of expansion is increasing over time. In this respect, we can speak about antigravity. The usual gravitational attraction would have slowed the recession of galaxies, but, in our actual universe, it turns out to be the opposite.

Generally speaking, such a picture does not contradict the general relativity theory, but dark energy should have a special property for this - a negative pressure. This fact dramatically distinguishes it from normal forms of matter. It is no exaggeration to say that the nature of dark energy is the mathematical mystery of fundamental physics of the 21^st century.

Mass is the original entity of the law of gravity. However, the physical nature of mass is not yet known.

Thus, according to the Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences L. B. Okun, the nature of mass is the number one question of modern physics [The concept of mass (of mass, energy, relativity), Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow, Usp.Fiz.Nauk 158, 511-530, July 1989]. It is currently believed that the accepted theory of gravity allows us to calculate the density of the Sun. The density of matter is determined by the length of the bond between atomic nuclei and the number of nucleons in these nuclei. At temperatures above 6,000 degrees (the Sun consists of 93% hydrogen and 7% helium, heated to a temperature of more than 10,000K), bonds between the electrons and nuclei in hydrogen and helium break with a binding energy of about 15 electron volts. At a temperature of 6,000 degrees, hydrogen and helium are already in the form of plasma. Coulomb and magnetic forces, which differ in strength from gravitational forces by more than 40 orders of magnitude, protect the plasma from spreading on the Sun. The specific weight of the Sun, therefore, should be less than the specific weight of hydrogen under ordinary conditions, and should have a corresponding value less than 0.0000899 (at 273 K=0°C) g/см³, and which differs from the value determined according to Newton's gravitation laws, 2 g/cm ³, by more than 2,000 times.

It is proved that the Sun is positively charged and that the electrostatic interaction of the Sun with other stars should be considered when calculating gravitational interactions.

What can we say today today about the physical nature of the gravitational force and its quantitative evaluation?

It is widely known that the most effective way to solve particular problems is to solve general problems. As mentioned above, the main unresolved issues in modern physics are the physical nature of mass, the collapse of masses and the nature of dark matter and dark energy. In our previous work, it was proved that the idea of mass introduced to science by Newton was an intermediate entity in the course of the historical development of physics. In the article "Inertial forces and gravitational forces," we explained that inertial mass has an electromagnetic origin. Since uncharged masses do not exist in nature (even bodies that are generally electrically neutral consist of charges), electromagnetic mass is attributable to all bodies. Since the mass turned out to be an entity unnecessary to the explanation of inertia, a suspicion that gravity - another property of matter - is determined by the interaction of charged particles appears reasonable.

Newton considered space systems as systems of centripetal forces. Atomic and molecular systems are also connected by centripetal (Coulomb) forces.

The proof of the electromagnetic origin of inertial properties of matter allows us, we believe, to answer another question of modern physics and chemistry, which follows from the exclusion of mass as a necessary initial entity. In general, this question can be formulated in the following way: why are systems of centripetal forces stable?

Let's remember the equilibrium conditions. There are three states of equilibrium in mechanics: neutral equilibrium, stable equilibrium and unstable equilibrium.

The planetary system described only by Newton's equations is also unstable. Maybe that is why Newton said that the maintenance of the present type of solar system requires the intervention of some extraneous supernatural forces.

We believe that these supernatural forces are the electromagnetic ones described by Faraday's law. Charge moving with acceleration generates EMF that acts on a charged particle with a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the force that caused the motion with acceleration.

These forces explain the equality of centripetal and centrifugal forces and the stability of the orbits of both space objects and electrons in atoms and molecules.

In the process of the electrodynamic explanation of this picture of the universe, gravitational interaction can be explained only by electromagnetic forces.

Consideration of these forces allows a qualitative explanation of the aforementioned contradictions in the accepted theory of gravity, the role and nature of dark matter and energy, and such phenomena as the recession of galaxies without additional introduction of entities which are not detected experimentally. Within the framework of this electrodynamic explanation, galaxies scatter because the burning stars bear excessive positive charge. Dark matter is the clouds of excited and unexcited microparticles (electrons, protons, neutrons, positrons, positrons, positroniums, anions of positroniums etc.).

An evaluation of the magnitude of the joint action of the above mentioned forces on a cosmic scale can be made with the help of the Newtonian formulas relating to force, inertial masses and centrifugal acceleration.