Reply To: Science and Astronomy in the Torah

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#672507
Pashuteh Yid
Member

Squeak, it is true that gravity might be replaced by a larger and more comprehensive theory, but it is unlikely that the current law of gravity F=gm_1m_2/r^2 will be significantly changed. Scientists love to collapse various phenomena into one bigger law that explains both. Electromagnetics has a similar form for the electrostatic force. Einstein and many others have searched for a Unified Field theory that might show that both of these are special cases of one larger force. (They are also motivated to unify the forces that hold atoms together along with gravity and EM.) If they succeed, we may call gravity something else. But the physical phenomema we explain with the old law will probably stay pretty much the same. Just like we still use Newton’s laws to predict the motion of baseballs.

The current form of the law of gravity works so well that we understand how to send rockets into space and reach the moon, and what the weight of the astronauts would be on the moon without having been there before, and how far a baseball will travel, and what the water pressure is at 10000 feet below Earth’s surface, and how big a water pump we need for the bathrooms to work on the top floor of a skyscraper. We have reached Mars, and the GPS system works well based on current equations. The solar batteries in the GPS system are aimed towards the sun and keep it charged, because we know where the sun is at all times. All these depend on our understanding of gravity. You need to appreciate the incredible beauty of Newton’s work.

Maybe a new system will show that gravity is a special case of a different force, but I highly doubt the math will change significantly for everyday use. Scientists are generally honest when they don’t know something. If they were having trouble understanding one planetary body or set of experiments with current thinking you would see calls for papers and conferences scheduled on for example the “Jupiter-Moon 5 Anomaly”. You continually see and hear the phrases well-understood or not well-understood in conferences and journals about myriad things.

Scientists have a million things they don’t understand yet. We don’t even know how to prevent the common cold. Many revolutions are yet to take place. But don’t minimize the many things we do understand.